The Parenting Adventure
by xXdreameaterXx
Summary: With a heavy heart the Doctor has decided to move on. He has left Clara after the events on Gallifrey and is ready for a new adventure – when suddenly a girl appears in his TARDIS. Elsie is starting to fade because Clara should be pregnant with their daughter but isn't and Elsie has come back from the future to fix it and bring her stubborn parents together. Post Hell Bent.
1. Chapter 1

**The Parenting Adventure**

 _With a heavy heart the Doctor has decided to move on. He has left Clara after the events on Gallifrey and is ready for a new adventure – when suddenly a girl appears in his TARDIS. Elsie is starting to fade because Clara should be pregnant with their daughter but isn't and Elsie has come back from the future to fix it and bring her stubborn parents together. A plan that sounds a lot easier than it actually is because they are running out of time. Post Hell Bent._

 **Premise:** I've decided to go with my own theory that the Doctor hasn't forgotten Clara at all. I've already made a long post about it on Tumblr and I don't really wanna go into detail again. For this fic the Doctor has pretended to forget Clara cause it was the only way she would have let him go.

 **Chapter 1**

The Doctor pulled down the lever, sending the TARDIS off into the vortex. Where to next? Maybe he should use the randomizer and see where it would take him because right now the heaviness of what he had done was beginning to dawn on him. He needed a distraction. The Doctor had endured 4.5 billion years in his own personal hell just to have a chance to save Clara and even in that he hadn't really succeeded, not as long as she didn't have a pulse. Clara would still have to face the raven eventually but he comforted himself with the thought of her out there, running across the universe until she was tired of it. 4.5 billion years and he had still lost her in the end. There had been no other way, he had had to pretend to have forgotten her – otherwise Clara would have never let him go.

The Doctor suddenly stopped his walk around the console unit and blinked. He opened his eyes again but the vision was still there and no matter how furiously he blinked and shook his head it didn't go away. Hang on, this had happened before. Random girls appearing in the TARDIS. Oh no, not this time. He really wasn't in the mood for trouble.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the Doctor bellowed at the girl. She seemed vaguely familiar now that he came to think about it. Brown, curly hair, large eyes, somewhere between 5 and 15 years old – he could never tell the age of children. No, he didn't know her.

And just like that the girl smiled at him. "I need your help, Doctor," she said sweetly.

The Doctor could have sworn that voice rang a faint bell in his memory but he couldn't quite place it. Why did she seem so familiar when he could have sworn he had never seen her before?

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You know, some write me a message on my psychic paper, some call me," he said warily before his voice took on a stricter tone, "How did you even get here? We're in the time vortex!"

The girl hesitated.

"Well?"

"I came from the future," she blurted out eventually and now she was beginning to look a little desperate, "I didn't travel in space, just in time. I was in your TARDIS, 13 years from now and you sent me back to fix something. Where's Clara?"

The girl looked around, confusing the Doctor only more. From the future. From his TARDIS. _Clara._

"How do you know Clara?"

The girl rolled her eyes impatiently and opened her mouth but suddenly seemed to think better of saying what she had meant to say. Instead she took a deep breath. "Listen, Doctor, something has happened and I strongly suspect the Time Lords were behind it cause whoever it was, they've done a pretty good j-"

Her sentence was abruptly cut short when the girl suddenly started to flicker before the Doctor's eyes but in a matter of seconds she was back and seemed solid again. He took a step closer just to see it for sure.

"Sorry, that happens sometimes," she apologized quickly, "And that's exactly the problem. I was in the TARDIS with you and Clara when it started and she suddenly disappeared from one moment to the next. Something's gone wrong and we need to fix it."

The Doctor eyed her with curiosity. He wanted Clara back more than anything in the world but they were the hybrid, eventually they would go too far. And why should he trust a strange girl that had randomly appeared in his TARDIS?

Suddenly the girl held up a shining object. A key. _A TARDIS key_. Somehow the entire situation made less sense with every passing minute.

"I know you don't trust me but in the future you will. Enough to give me a key. Enough to send me back in time to fix everything."

"What's your name?"

"I'm Elsie," she replied, smiling again. Maybe she was telling the truth? She looked at him as if she knew him.

The Doctor cleared his throat. "Well, Elsie, nice of you to visit but there's nothing I can do. Clara is gone and I have no idea where to find her. She could be anywhere in time and space. And you were right, we recently encountered the Time Lords and I can't ever see Clara again. See, together we are the hybrid, a thing so dangerous it could destroy the universe."

Elsie chuckled, though why the Doctor didn't know. "And you believed that? Has it ever occurred to you that they might have been lying to you? That the hybrid is something else entirely? That the real reason they wanted it erased from time has nothing to do with fear but with the fact that they're assholes?"

The Doctor's eyes widened at Elsie's choice of words.

"Sorry," she mumbled quickly and looked at her feet for a moment. When their eyes met again a few moments later however she seemed to have regained her confidence. "We need to get Clara back. Otherwise I'll cease to exist. I'm only here because of her."

Again Elsie flickered in front of his eyes and when she was solid again she stared at him pleadingly. There was something about those eyes, about that look that made his hearts ache.

"Stop it," the Doctor told her strictly, "Stop looking at me like that. Why are you looking at me like that?"

Elsie started to sniff and a few seconds later broke out into tears while the Doctor stood there helplessly, watching her, not knowing what to do. He hated crying in general but Elsie's crying seemed to be a thousand times worse. He couldn't stand to see or hear it. Why couldn't he stand it?

"Alright, alright," he agreed without even wanting to, but she didn't really leave him a choice, "We'll get Clara back. Somehow. Just stop with the crying."

"Oh, thank you," Elsie suddenly beamed at him as if the tears had never happened, giving the Doctor the impression that it had all been a show before the girl suddenly flung her arms around him and he immediately grew rigid under her touch.

"Uhm," he spluttered, "Elsie, I. . . I don't know if future me likes this but I. . . erm, I don't really do hugs."

"Future you doesn't like it much either," she said and squeezed him more tightly, "Clara and I do it for fun to annoy you."

"Yeah," he growled, "That sounds like her."

Finally Elsie released him from her embrace and the Doctor took a deep breath. What on Earth had made him pick up this girl?

"How did you come to travel with us?" he asked her, "Shouldn't you be at home with your parents?"

Something about that question made Elsie laugh. "I sort of happened to you," she replied with a smile before she made her way around the console, stopping in front of the telepathic interface.

"I still don't know how to find Clara," the Doctor told her, "She has her own TARDIS now, she could be anywhere. Maybe if we searched history for unusual events, well, events I wasn't involved in, we could find her. But it's gonna take some time."

"Mh," Elsie seemed to consider his suggestion before she started to flick a couple of switches on the TARDIS console.

" _Hey!_ " the Doctor cried out, "Stop that! No touching!"

"Calm down, I know what I'm doing," she told him with a smile, "And I will find Clara _right now_."

The Doctor watched in surprise as telepathic interface came to life and started to glow. So Elsie could fly the TARDIS, at least to some extend. She knew how to operate it so she must have travelled with them for a while. Yet as to why he would bring a child on board of his space ship the Doctor couldn't say. Maybe she was one of Clara's students?

Elsie closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before she sank her hands into the interface. The TARDIS started to gurgle in response as Elsie sent her through time and space, a sound of approval and. . . _fondness_? Was the TARDIS fond of this girl?

Eventually they landed with a thud and both the Doctor and Elsie cringed at the sound.

"Sorry," Elsie muttered, looking sheepishly at the Doctor, "Haven't flown her so very often yet."

"I could have used the telepathic interface, you know?" he suggested.

The girl smiled at him in response. "It's better I did it. Clara and I, we share a special bond," Elsie explained.

The Doctor frowned at her. "She saved your life, right? That's why you're fading from existence."

"Something like that," she cleared her throat and pointed at the door, "Now go and get your Clara back. She's right out there."

Suddenly the Doctor felt as if he was frozen to the spot. Just a few steps and he would be reunited with Clara and even though for him it couldn't have been more than thirty minutes since he last saw her it felt like an eternity and he had no idea what he was going to say to her. After all, he had lied about the memory wipe.

"Go on!" Elsie coaxed him, smiling.

The Doctor turned back to the TARDIS console and pressed a few buttons. "You know what," he said nervously, "I think it was a bad idea. We should leave."

But Elsie put on the handbrake before he even had the chance to fly away.

"Go out there and talk to her," she ordered him, "And don't even think about coming back without Clara or I'll fly away before you even reach the TARDIS."

The Doctor glared at her, growling. "Always the bossy ones," he muttered under his breath before he started to make his way towards the door. Just one more step.


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you so much for the first review :)_

 **Chapter 2**

Clara wiped the counter for the third time in an hour even though it still wasn't dirty and no customer had come in since. She liked doing that at times, just opening the diner to strangers, listening to them, hearing their stories. It often made her feel less lonely, made her forget about everything and the next day when they were wondering where the diner had gone Clara was back on her own, travelling through time and space. She had loved it once, a long time ago. Now all she felt was weariness and the desire to rest. Maybe even forever. She could feel it pull at her like a nagging thought that just wouldn't go away.

327 years and yet there was no wrinkle on her face, no grey hair on her head and there never would be. Frozen between one heartbeat and the last, not dead and not alive either. Maybe it was time for her to return to Gallifrey and face the raven at last.

How did the Doctor even stand it? He was over 2000 years old and still going on and on and he would probably never stop and Clara just felt like she had run out of any will to go further after only 299 years. If she was honest there was now only one reason keeping her here and that reason was fear. Clara hadn't been afraid to die back then, it had made sense, she had brought it on herself but the longer she had gone on the less she had felt like dying. While she wasn't afraid of death itself she was afraid to go back to Gallifrey just to change her mind at the last minute when it was already to late. That once she stepped back inside the extraction chamber something would come to her mind, a place she hadn't seen, a person she had yet to meet and she would regret her decision. No, she would make it 300 years. Then she would think about returning to face the raven.

The little bell above the door rang and tore her from her thought and when she looked up Clara thought that for a moment her heart had started to beat again. She swallowed hard. Oh, why did the universe feel the need to test her when she was already at rock bottom? Why did it tempt her so much?

"Hello," the Doctor greeted her reluctantly.

He didn't know her. Clara needed to remind herself that he didn't know her and she couldn't possibly run towards him and throw her arms around a stranger even though she had never wanted anything so badly. Why on earth did their paths have to cross again?

"Hello," Clara forced herself to smile, "Can I get you anything?"

She inhaled sharply, fighting back tears. 299 years and she had thought about him every single day. 299 years. . . but he wore the same clothes, the same dusty shirt under the velvet jacket she had laid out for him. Could it be that for him only hours had passed?

Clara waited for him to say something but for the longest time he just stood there, motionless and wearing a sad smile on his face. She was growing increasingly nervous and she knew she couldn't fight it forever. Unless he said something very soon she would give in to temptation and tell him who she was.

"I'm closing in an hour. You have to decide what you want," she told him, trying to cover up her nervousness with a giggle.

"Clara."

She gasped at the mention of her name, the tears now filling her eyes for real and before she knew what she was doing Clara had closed the distance between them and thrown her arms around him in a hug. She never wanted to let him go ever again and for once he didn't even fight the embrace.

"You remember," she whispered against the fabric of his velvet coat. Oh, how she loved the velvet. How she loved him right now. Her Doctor had come back for her when she had needed him most.

"I remember," he confirmed, carefully closing his arms around her and for a while they just stood there holding each other.

Suddenly a thought crossed her mind and Clara struggled free from his embrace to look at him. "But," she argued, her voice taking on a stricter tone as she gave him a soft punch, "Why did you come back? We're the hybrid. We can't stay together. That was the hole point of the memory wipe and you know that, Doctor."

"Yeah," he made a grimace, "I'm not entirely sure about that. See, a thing happened and-"

"What kind of thing?" Clara asked warily, cocking her eyebrows at him.

"Best come back to the TARDIS with me and you'll see."

She frowned. "But what about _my_ TARDIS?" she asked. This place had been her home for the last three centuries and leaving it behind just didn't feel right. But then, had it really felt like home without the Doctor?

"It will wait here, trust me. People will just assume it's a closed diner and walk past it. Now come on, and bring Ashildr!" the Doctor gestured for her to follow him as he turned back towards the diner exit. Clara looked around the diner one more time – and then made her decision. She wouldn't leave the Doctor again.

"Ashildr is gone," Clara sighed while she followed him outside.

The Doctor seemed surprised. "Gone? Where? Why?"

"She met someone while we stopped in Cardiff, an immortal. That was 200 years ago. I visited them from time to time, they seemed happy."

Suddenly the Doctor began to chuckle. "I see she met Captain Jack Harkness after all. I knew they'd get along."

When she spotted the blue box parked just a few metres away Clara couldn't help but smile. The diner had never really been a home, not with Ashildr, not with any of the other people she had picked up along the way. The Doctor was her home, he always had been, and she was filled with pure joy when she thought of travelling with him again. Yes, she would have to face the raven eventually but that could wait for another 300 years.

However when she stepped though the wooden door a surprise was waiting for her inside the TARDIS and Clara's mouth fell open at the sight of her.

"Doctor," she began and reached out to touch his arm but at the same time Clara couldn't keep her eyes off the girl that looked so much like her it was almost scary.

"Oh, right," he cleared his throat, "Clara, this is Elsie. Apparently she is going to travel with us 13 years in the future."

"U-huh," Clara uttered, still gawking at the girl. She was around 12 or 13 years old and she had her eyes and nose. The exact same eyes and nose. Hadn't it been for the curly hair Clara might have confused her with her younger self. There was absolutely no denying that they were related, "13 years, you say?"

"Yes, that's what Elsie told me," the Doctor explained while the girl smiled at them, "She is our future companion and she needs our help."

Clara kept prodding his arm, not taking her eyes off Elsie until the Doctor finally stopped talking.

"Clara, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost. _Have_ you seen a ghost?" he asked.

"Doctor, look at her," Clara said, pointing towards the girl, "Take a look!"

The Doctor frowned, exchanging glances between Clara and Elsie over and over but apparently without coming to a conclusion. Clara raised her eyebrows at him.

"What?" he asked.

She shook her head as she walked up to Elsie to stand next to her so the Doctor could look at them both at the same time and Clara watched as the realisation was beginning to dawn on him. His mouth fell open like hers had done and he pointed at them, even though it took him a moment to find the right words.

"Clara didn't _save_ your life, she _gave_ you life," the Doctor realized, still looking as dumbfounded as he had been before his realisation, "Elsie is your daughter!"

Clara turned to look at the girl again, this time under a different light. There was no way she could ever deny it – Elsie was her own flesh and blood but there was something else. Something about the way she smiled, about her posture, about that unruly hair on her head. It took her a moment but eventually Clara knew. The longer she looked at Elsie the surer she became.

"Doctor," Clara said carefully, clearing her throat, "I think Elsie is _our_ daughter."


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you all for the reviews :) I hope I can keep up with your expectations here :D**

 **Chapter 3**

The Doctor said nothing at all for a very long time and Clara had already begun to assume he would never speak again when finally he stepped towards the TARDIS console unit. A couple of pressed buttons and a few flicked switches later a light beam appeared and seemed to scan Elsie. She had already guessed what the Doctor was doing but moments later she saw it confirmed on the screens.

"So I was right," Clara almost whispered when she saw the results of the DNA test that matched them both, "We're her parents."

Still the Doctor said nothing, only threw glances at both Elsie and Clara. The girl was beginning to look a little insecure and Clara could only imagine what it must be like to have your own parents stare at you as if you were a complete stranger.

"It's true," Elsie confirmed after a while before she came to look at Clara, "You should be pregnant with me already but something must have happened. That's why I'm fading away."

Clara felt the need to sit down. She had seen a lot of crazy things during her travels with the Doctor but this was most definitely a first. Carefully she stepped backwards until her back hit the railing framing the console unit and she was glad to finally have something to hold on to. 299 years of travelling through time and space without the Doctor and she had had so many adventures, encountered so many aliens, met so many people but as soon as the Doctor was back in her life everything she had ever believed in was turned upside down. Clara had a daughter. With the Doctor. Who still hadn't said a word.

No matter how hard Clara tried she still felt so overwhelmed by the news that they couldn't quite sink in just yet. Elsie was their daughter and Clara knew nothing whatsoever about her.

Finally she took a deep breath and opened her mouth. "Alright," she said, "Here's what we will do. I will make us all a cup of tea and then we're going to sit down and. . . talk, I guess."

Clara looked up at Elsie, almost a replica of herself, and so many questions were forming in her head already. There was so much that she wanted to know, so much she wanted to ask her and once the Doctor had found his speech again, Clara was sure that he had the same questions.

Clara forced a smile. "I want to get to know you, Elsie. I can imagine this is as strange for you as it is for us. Right, Doctor?"

When she turned her head in his direction the Doctor had his eyebrows still raised at Elsie but slowly he was beginning to look over to Clara with a mixture of terror and confusion.

"Doctor?"

Nothing.

With a sigh Clara pushed herself away from the railing. "Okay, I'll go and make the tea."

"I can do that!" the Doctor almost yelled once she had started to walk in the direction of the corridor and before she could even reply he had left the console room, storming off in the direction of the kitchen.

"Is he still like that?" Clara asked Elsie, who only shrugged in reply.

She gave the girl a sympathetic smile when suddenly Elsie began to vanish from sight only to reappear a second later.

"Whoah," Clara uttered in surprise, "What happened? What was that?"

Elsie sighed. "I'm fading. That's just what happens. I guess that one day I'll vanish and not pop back up."

The longer Clara stared at the girl the more she realized their current predicament. Elsie was their daughter, whom Clara and the Doctor had conceived in what Clara could only call another timeline. She thought back to the days before her "death" and could only think of one moment, one single moment in which she had considered kissing the Doctor. Oh, how happy they had been back then, how carefree. Clara had just saved him from having to marry a weird plant and they had fled the gardens, not without causing a bit of a mess of course. Back in the TARDIS she had wanted to kiss him. That and more. And then the phone had rung, ruining the moment and ultimately leading to her death.

She and the Doctor would have to sleep together and they would have to do it soon – otherwise there would be no Elsie. Oh, the Doctor was not going to like that.

"Don't worry," Clara said calmly, granting her daughter – however weird it felt to call her that – a smile, "We will fix this. We're not going to let you vanish."

When Elsie didn't reply and Clara had run out of nice but causal things to say she looked around the room nervously. Then something else came to her mind.

"Elsie, are we-," she paused, wondering how exactly she was going to ask her daughter, "The Doctor and I, are we. . . _together_. . . in the future?"

Finally her face lit up again. "You got married when I was two. There's a picture in your bedroom," Elsie smiled but at the same time looked sad, "You look so beautiful in it, Mum. And you kept telling me that I wanted to wear the same dress as you, so you ended up making a small one for me."

 _Mum._

Clara exhaled sharply. She had wanted children but that had been centuries ago, before she had given up on a normal life after Danny's death, before she had thrown herself head first into the Doctor's universe, before she had faced the raven and become the endless wanderer. She would get used to the idea. Somehow. But for this particular adventure she needed the Doctor again. Speaking of which, where was he?

"I think I'll go and see why the Doctor is taking so long," Clara said and pointed towards the corridor. When there was no reaction from Elsie she sighed again. "Yeah, I'll go and do that."

Clara found the Doctor in the TARDIS kitchen where he was staring at the three steaming mugs on the counter in front of him. Apparently he was lost in his own thoughts.

"Doctor?" Clara asked carefully as she stepped through the door, "Is everything okay?"

He appeared a little startled when he looked up and needed a moment to find the words. "I, uhm, I don't know how you take your tea," he admitted.

Clara shrugged. "Just tea. Plain," she said before her voice took on a stricter tone, "Doctor, you need to talk to Elsie. _We_ need to talk to Elsie. And to each other, for that matter."

"I talked to her before you arrived," the Doctor argued and quickly turned away and to retrieve the sugar bowl from the rack, "How did you say you want your tea?"

Frowning Clara stepped forward to take the bowl from him and set it down on the counter. "I don't care about the tea, Doctor," she said more loudly than she had wanted to, "Our daughter came back from the future cause we failed to conceive her. _We have a daughter!_ An actual kid! And she's all grown up and she has all those memories of us being her parents and married and-"

Clara stopped when the Doctor suddenly started to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" she asked him angrily.

That only seemed to make him laugh even more. "Oh, Clara Oswald," he said, "I've missed you. And you're still breathing as if you need to."

Clara hadn't even realized it until now. Eventually she shrugged. "You know, some habits are hard to kick. Besides, people tend to grow suspicious of you if you never breathe."

"True," he said, "Very true."

Suddenly his gaze wandered to a spot behind her and when Clara turned around she saw that Elsie had entered the kitchen as well.

"Come, sit with us," Clara told her and pointed to the kitchen table, "We want to know everything."

Reluctantly they all took a seat around the table and started sipping their tea. It took her a moment but eventually Elsie started telling them in detail about what had brought her back whereas Clara shared her story about facing the raven, which was obviously what had gone wrong.

"What do I look like in the future? Do I have wrinkles?" Clara frowned and the Doctor started to groan next to her.

"Clara, this really is the least important thing," he growled and Clara nudged him.

Elsie shook her head. "No, you look exactly the same. Only your hair is different."

"Do you go to school? How do we do that? I mean, obviously we're all living in the TARDIS."

"No, you wanted to send me but Dad said it would be too complicated to explain," Elsie said and Clara noticed how the Doctor flinched when she called him Dad but she decided to ignore that for the time being. He would come around eventually.

"And my family? Do we visit? Do they know?" Clara wanted to know.

Their daughter nodded. "Yes, they know and we visit once a month. You told them at some point, about Dad and the time travel. Grandpa hates you," Elsie said, nodding towards the Doctor.

He scoffed and Clara chuckled at the thought of it. "I'm not surprised."

They talked for a while about small things like how the TARDIS looked in the future, what places they had visited together but Clara didn't know how to ask the one question that was weighing heavily on her mind. How did she and the Doctor even work as a couple? Of course, she loved him, she had always loved him but only shortly before her death had she even started to consider there to be something between them – 299 years ago. And the Doctor, well, he was the Doctor. He didn't even like to be hugged. How on earth had they managed to make this gorgeous, intelligent girl sitting right in front of her?

From time to time Elsie flickered and faded from view only to pop back up a second later, reminding Clara as to why she was here at all, reminding her that they needed to _act_ soon.

Eventually their daughter yawned and Clara concluded it was time for her to get some rest as well. She didn't need sleep but she had made a habit of lying down with her eyes closed for an hour or two every day, thinking, daydreaming, just to stop her from going mad.

"You don't even have a room," Clara suddenly realized when Elsie yawned again.

"Oh, that's okay," Elsie smiled as she rose from her chair, "I'll just make one. I've been redecorating my own room since I was seven. I know how to do it."

"Are you sure you don't want your father to help you?" she asked kindly and the Doctor flinched again. Clara shot around to give him a dirty look.

"No, that's okay," she replied, "Good night."

When Elsie had left the room Clara sighed heavily. The Doctor still remained silent next to her and when she looked at him she thought she had never seen him so lost and confused. They both needed time for the news to sink in.

"Do I still have a room?" Clara asked him.

The Doctor turned to look at her, baffled. "Of course. It's, erm, it's right where it's always been."

Clara nodded. "Good. I think I'll need to rest my eyes for a bit as well."

She got up from her chair, threw another glance at the Doctor and when she realized that he didn't even seem to take any notice of her at all she retreated to her own room.


	4. Chapter 4

_Thank you for the reviews :)_

 **Chapter 4**

The Doctor wandered aimlessly around the TARDIS corridors, his head trying to make sense of everything that had happened in the last few hours. He had a daughter. With Clara. He was a father once more after almost 2000 years.

He couldn't even remember how he had managed the first time around. He didn't know a thing about babies and nappies and all those matters, but then again, for now he didn't even need to. His daughter was already twelve years old and unless he and Clara did. . . _the thing_. . . there would never be a child.

The Doctor couldn't even bring himself to think the word even though he had considered doing it with Clara. He had dreamed about it, even longed for it to some extend but never had he thought that Clara would want the same thing. And maybe she didn't. What if she only felt compelled to do it because of Elsie? What if he hurt Clara? What if she didn't like this body? It had been ages since he had done it. What if he couldn't please Clara?

All those fears he had carried around with him for months suddenly came back up, fears that had made him decide it would be easier to not try it at all.

The Doctor hadn't even noticed that he passed Clara's room when suddenly he heard a dull sound, followed by cursing. Instinctively and without thinking he burst into her room.

"Is everything okay? I heard a-" the Doctor stopped abruptly when his eyes fell on Clara who tried very hard to cover her upper arms with her hands but failed. They were covered all over in cuts and bruises that her long sleeves had been hiding before but now that she was only wearing a top they were plain for him to see.

"It's fine," Clara spluttered nervously and reached for a jumper, "I just stabbed my toe on the bed."

"You're hurt," he realized pointing at her arms.

"I told you, I am fine," Clara slipped on the jumper before he could look further and came towards him.

The Doctor shook his head. "Not your toe. Your arms. What happened?"

"Nothing," she replied harshly, "Besides, I remember there being a rule about knocking."

Clara stepped up to him and imitated a knocking move on his head but the Doctor caught her arm in the movement and pulled her sleeve back up, examining her wounds. They looked fresh as if they had only just happened to her. For a moment Clara struggled against his grip but obviously realized it was no use.

"Did you get into a fight?" the Doctor asked her, his voice full of worry.

"It's fine," she repeated, not even flinching as he pressed down on one of the bruises and finally she tore her arm free, "They're old bruises."

"They don't look old."

With a sigh Clara sank down on her bed and patted the empty spot next to her. Reluctantly the Doctor walked over to have a seat as well.

"We haven't really had a chance to talk yet, I guess," Clara said heavily.

"We have a chance now," he argued and Clara looked up at him, her eyes so big and sad it tugged at his hearts. Even the smile on her face seemed forced.

Eventually she held her arm in his direction and and pointed at a small, light blue bruise on her upper arm. "That was the first bruise I got. We had landed on this planet, I don't even remember what it was called but it was nothing but a really big jungle," Clara beamed at him, the first emotion appearing on her face that he actually believed, "You would have loved it there. We went into these old pyramid ruins and some of the stones came loose and struck me. I didn't even bother with it then but after a few days I noticed that the bruise wouldn't go away. So I did this," she pointed at a small cut on the back of her hand, her voice turning grave again, "It was the same. I don't heal."

The Doctor reached out and took her hand in his own, caressing the tiny cut with his thumb. He had had no idea.

"Clara-"

"Don't say it," she interrupted him.

He looked into her face, frowning. He had actually no idea what he could say that would help her in any way.

"I can't even have children, right?" It wasn't a question. It was a statement. "The way I am now it's never going to work. I'm dead. And not dead. But I'm not alive enough to actually give life."

Softly the Doctor shook his head. "No," he said in a low voice, "No, you're not."

Clara gave a small nod before she turned her face away, her hand falling from his grip and into her own lap.

"How long?" the Doctor asked.

"299," Clara replied.

"299 what? Hours? Days?"

"299 years," she said and looked at him with a sad smile, "I've had companions, you know? After Ashildr and Jane."

The Doctor cocked his eyebrows. "Jane?"

Clara gave a soft giggle. "Jane Austen, of course. I know, _I know_ , you said that if we took her with us we could ruin history but we didn't. We had fun, for a while. She wrote me a book while we were travelling. I kept it. She said that maybe one day if humans in the future knew all about time travel we could publish it."

"What happened to her?" the Doctor asked and suddenly her smile faltered.

It took her a long moment to reply. "We landed in the middle of an alien civil war and tried to end it. They used a sort of gas on each other. Ashilr and I were fine but Jane fell ill. I brought her home so she could die among family."

It was a strange feeling to know that for him it had only been hours since the diner, since Gallifrey when for Clara several centuries had passed. She had had a whole life our there without him and suddenly the Doctor felt jealous of all the people she had met, everyone she had travelled with just because they had had a chance to be part of her world and he hadn't. They were equals now more than ever after Clara had experienced first hand what it was like to go on and on while everyone else just _stopped_.

"Will you tell me about your travels?" the Doctor asked hopefully.

Clara smiled. "Of course."

"Good," he concluded, "But first let me take care of those."

The Doctor pointed at her bruises before he started rubbing his hands together and shaking them. Clara seemed confused until he started to emit a golden glow and then it was beginning to dawn on her.

"No," she protested and moved further away from him, "Doctor, no! Don't waste your-"

She broke off when he touched her arms, his regeneration energy flowing through her, healing her instantly. The Doctor was probably sacrificing another regeneration for this but if Clara wasn't worth it, who was? Besides, after the Daleks had taken so much of this energy without it taking a toll on him he had already begun to assume that whatever the Time Lords had granted him on Trenzalore would go on forever and ever – but there was no way of telling except if he tried.

Suddenly Clara's eyes shot wide open and she stared at him in horror before she started to choke. The Doctor let go of her but it didn't stop. Clara was gasping for air, breathing too quickly, the panic of it so visible on her face that it was beginning to scare him, too. What was happening to her? What had he done?  
"Clara?" he asked but she was hyperventilating, trying to suck in too much air at once. He reached out to grab her hands, "Clara, breathe! Slowly!"

Then he noticed it. Right under his palm. A pulse.

"Shhhhh!" he hushed her, "Clara, calm down. It's okay. Just breathe normally. Your heart has restarted. It's all fine."

A few minutes passed before Clara had finally calmed down again and was breathing normally. Her pulse under his finger was slowing down, too, taking on a normal rate.

"What happened?" she swallowed.

The Doctor granted her a smile. "It seems that my regeneration energy has restarted your heart," he snorted, "And all I wanted to do was to heal your bruises."

Looking at her arms now he realized that he had succeeded in that. They looked normal. Any wound she had gotten over the last three centuries was gone.

Clara stared at him in awe. "It was that simple? Just a bit of Time Lord magic from you and I'm alive again?"

He exhaled sharply. "I'm afraid this is only a temporary fix. I can't say how long it will last," he said gravely, "You're frozen in an instant. My regeneration energy is enough to restart you but not enough to keep you alive. As soon as it runs out your pulse will stop and it'll be like before."

"But right now I'm alive again, yes? Everything works normally?" she asked, "There's hope for Elsie?"

The Doctor cleared his throat, not sure he was ready for the course this conversation was taking. He simply nodded.

"Shall we," Clara paused, shrugging, "Get it over with?"

He frowned at her. "Get what over with?" he asked.

Clara rolled her eyes at him. "Have sex. Conceive her."

"Clara!" the Doctor blurted out, suddenly horrified at the suggestion. He couldn't possibly do that now. Not with her in that state. Not with him feeling so confused. He just couldn't.

"What?! We have to do it eventually, and I'm guessing we'll have to do it soon or otherwise there will be no Elsie."

"I know that!" he said defensively and rose from the bed.

"So what's the problem, Doctor? It's not a big deal. We just. . . do it and the rest will fall into place later but we need to do this for our daughter."

"You," the Doctor sputtered, pointing at her as he took a step back, "Need to rest. You're probably tired. And thirsty. And confused."

"Doctor-"

"Rest!" he interrupted her, making his way towards the door, "Good night."


	5. Chapter 5

_Thank you for the reviews, guys :) They make me so happy!_

 **Chapter 5**

Elsie jumped away from the door when she heard her dad say good night and ran down the corridor so as not to give him the impression she had been eavesdropping on them. The Doctor walked out of the room a few moments later and immediately spotted her, his entire body growing rigid at the sight of his daughter. Elsie had known that it wouldn't be easy, she had known that her father was complicated – but she had expected a little more than being completely ignore by him.

"Hey," she muttered sheepishly.

The Doctor straightened himself up and cleared his throat. "Uhm," he spluttered in reply, "Hey."

A silence fell over the corridor and she could sense that he wanted nothing more than to run away and hide somewhere deep inside his TARDIS. She had to find a subject to talk about that would keep him interested to make him stay.

"I like how your TARDIS looks now," she said with a smile.

The Doctor cocked an eyebrow. "What does it look like in the future?" he asked her carefully.

Elsie shrugged. "Homelier. Messier. The console room is basically our living room with more chairs and a sofa. And you made the cinema more comfortable. Right now it looks. . . like a cinema."

He cleared his throat again. "Would you like me to change it? I mean, if you want to watch a movie, or. . . you know."

"I could help you with it. Tomorrow. We could do it together," Elsie suggested, "I think I need a bit of practice. The TARDIS put my wardrobe up the wrong way."

"Good," her dad concluded, "We'll do it tomorrow then."

He turned around and had already started to walk away and Elsie had run out of ideas for what she could say to make him talk to her. She knew that both her parents needed time. Time they didn't have if Elsie was to live. They needed to conceive her soon or else she would vanish forever. And she already had an idea on how to bring them all a little closer.

* * *

Clara was sure she had never felt so hungry in her entire life as she made her way towards the TARDIS kitchen, the smell of ham and eggs already filling the corridors and making her mouth water. She had eaten during her 299 years, but she hadn't needed food the way she needed it now.

To her surprise it wasn't the Doctor standing at the stove but Elsie and Clara walked into the kitchen with a smile on her face.

"Mhhhhh, that smells delicious," Clara hummed as she peeked over her daughter's shoulder. It was enough to feed all three of them.

"I decided to make breakfast for us all. Dad," she paused, "The Doctor, he usually likes it when I cook."

"Did he teach you?" Clara wanted to know, eyeing her with curiosity.

"No," Elsie giggled, "You did. But I haven't yet managed a soufflé."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I was in my late twenties until I had figured that out."

When Elsie hat removed the pan from the oven Clara gently placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, making her turn around. She really was a beautiful, young girl and the impression Clara had gotten so far was that she and the Doctor had done a terrific job raising her.

Clara smiled as she looked at her daughter. "You are an amazing girl, Elsie, do you know that? And I'm not just saying that because you're my daughter. Don't worry, the Doctor and I, we. . .," she paused, trying to find the right words, "We won't let anything happen to you. And don't worry about him, he's just being weird, like he always is. He will come around, I promise."

Slowly Elsie nodded. "Can I hug you?" she asked sheepishly.

Clara still smiled at her. "Of course you can," she replied and immediately Elsie flung her arms her around neck and Clara slowly hugged her back. As strange as it was becoming a mother to a twelve-year-old over night she was already fond of her daughter.

They broke apart a moment later when the Doctor entered the kitchen, muttering to himself about smelling breakfast and he seemed a little taken aback by the sudden display of intimacy he saw in front of him.

"Elsie made us breakfast," Clara explained immediately, "Do you want some?"

He hesitated.

"Well, I will most definitely have some. I'm starving," Clara smiled as she took a couple of plates out of the cupboard, "Thanks for taking care of the cooking, Elsie."

When their daughter wasn't looking Clara shot the Doctor a dirty glance, indicating for him to sit down or so help him God and he complied, sniffing the contents of the pan with caution. As soon as he had taken the first bite however that caution seemed to have vanished.

"Are you going to teach me how to redecorate the TARDIS after breakfast?" Elsie asked him carefully.

The Doctor swallowed a bite. "Well," he paused, "I said I would, didn't I?"

She nodded. "Can I also throw in a suggestion for tomorrow?"

Both the Doctor and Clara raised their heads to look at Elsie but when the Doctor failed to reply it was Clara who answered instead. "Sure. What do you want to do?"

Elsie looked a little sheepish. "Just before things started to go wrong we were headed for the Adventure Planet. You had promised me we would go for weeks but something always came up."

Clara smiled at the suggestion. She had heard of the Adventure Planet, one of the biggest amusement parks in the universe, she had just never had the time to stop by and it would be a great occasion for them to bond as a family.

"I've never heard of that," the Doctor said coldly.

"It's an amusement park," Clara explained, "And the idea is great. We should go."

He scoffed. "Amusement parks are for children."

"Uhm," Clara cleared her throat and nodded in Elsie's direction.

The Doctor inhaled sharply. "Right. Amusement park then."

* * *

After finding the console room deserted Clara went roaming through the TARDIS and eventually found the Doctor standing in the middle of the cinema room.

"Looks good," she commented as she let herself fall down on a large sofa. It really looked less like an actual cinema now and more like a living room with a big screen, a large sofa and several beanbags, "Elsie has good taste."

"Yeah," the Doctor breathed, sinking down on the couch next to Clara, "Yeah, she does."

"She is a lovely girl, Doctor, give her a chance."

"I know that," he replied almost defensively.

"Then what's the problem?" Clara demanded to know, leaning forward to get a better look at him. He looked more troubled and lost than ever.

"You," the Doctor blurted out eventually, waving his hands around, "Us. That we. . ."

"That we slept together? Or will sleep together? Or have slept together in a time line that is now falling apart? Sorry, that part is confusing."

He said nothing in reply and Clara leaned back again, trying to think of a way to get through to him. After last night it was obvious that the direct approach wouldn't work.

"I thought about it," Clara admitted eventually, "About you and me, in that way, in the weeks before I died."

The frown on the Doctor's face only deepened but again he said nothing and Clara realized that she wouldn't get anything out of him tonight.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" she asked instead.

Finally the Doctor nodded and reached for the remote. "What do you want to watch?"

"Something funny," Clara said as she scooted a little closer, "I don't care what but I could use a laugh."

The Doctor switched on the screen and Clara didn't recognized the film but it seemed funny enough for the moment. She leaned her head against the Doctor's shoulder and sighed happily.

"I'm glad you're back," The Doctor whispered, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"You can't even begin to imagine how glad I am."

Reluctantly the Doctor placed his arm around her, resting it gently on her shoulder and Clara smiled to herself. Yes, he would come around.


	6. Chapter 6

_Thank you so much for the reviews :) And yes. Elsie has a couple of tricks up her sleeve - but will they work on her parents?_

 **Chapter 6**

Clara grabbed the Doctor's hand and screamed when they both fell even though halfway down it started to turn into laughter. She was also fairly certain he was laughing next to her although he had been less than keen to go to the Adventure Planet and Clara revelled in the feeling of falling freely, the tingle in her stomach, the wind in her hair – until the _GravityStop_ caught them seconds before they hit the ground.

"That was awesome, right?!" Elsie, who had made the 300 metre jump before them now came running towards the Doctor and Clara. She was beaming gleefully, "Come on, admit it! It was fun!"

"It was," Clara said, back on her feet but still slightly out of breath before she looked up to the tower from which they had all jumped. It was nice to feel the adrenaline course through her veins again, it was nice to have something other than her sheer will drive her.

"Okay, where do you wanna go next?" Clara turned around to where she thought Elsie was standing but there was nothing there. "Elsie?"

The Doctor seemed just as puzzled as she was but only a moment later their confusion lifted when Elsie flickered back into sight.

"Sorry," the girl mumbled, "Did you say anything while I was gone?"

The Doctor's eyebrows shot up. "You were gone quite a long time."

Elsie faked a smile. "I'll be okay," she paused, "So, do you want to do the _Tunnel of Horror_ or _Water-Air-Ride_ next?"

Clara sighed. Clearly Elsie wasn't as okay as she pretended to be and she wanted so much to help her daughter – but the only way to do that was to have sex with the Doctor, something he clearly wasn't ready for yet.

"I vote for the _Tunnel of Horror_ , come on!" Elsie said with an enthusiasm that to Clara sounded fake but before she or the Doctor could protest Elsie had already run off and there was nothing they could do except follow her.

"Doctor, this is a family trip," Clara said in a hushed voice as they walked a few steps behind their daughter, "Would it kill you to be nice to Elsie at least a little?"

He shot her a glance in reply, the one that was somewhere between frowning and trying to look clueless.

"Don't give me that look, Doctor!" she scolded him but kept her voice low, "Elsie is a perfectly lovely girl and she's scared. She knows that if we don't do it soon she's going to disappear and the last thing she needs right now is being ignored by her father."

"I haven't even known her for two whole days!" the Doctor argued.

"That doesn't matter," Clara said strictly, "Elsie has known us, the future us, all her life and she depends on us. We're her family. She has no one else. Please, just. . . try to be nice, okay?"

They came to a halt in front of the _Tunnel of Horror_ and Clara realized that Elsie was looking at them, obviously aware that they had been arguing. If only she could make the Doctor see sense about their daughter.

The Doctor snorted. " _Tunnel of Horror_. Looks more like _Tunnel of utter Boredom_ to me."

Clara and Elsie turned to look at the building and she had to admit that it looked less than impressive from the outside.

"Let's try it anyway," Elsie said and positioned herself at the end of the queue.

They waited for about twenty minutes because admission was one family after the other "to ensure maximum terror" and the Doctor was already growing impatient when finally a car came to a halt in front of them.

The Doctor and Clara climbed into the back and she turned around to see why Elsie was taking so long only to see her daughter still standing in the same spot.

"Are you coming?" Clara asked.

Elsie shook her head. "Nah, I changed my mind about this one. You go and tell me how creepy it was. I'll wait at the exit."

Clara squinted her eyes and just as the car started to roll along the rails she could see Elsie smile. She had planned this from the moment they had agreed to come here to bring Clara and the Doctor closer together but seeing as they desperately needed that she decided not to protest.

The car rolled into a dark, barely lit room that played the _boo-hoo_ sounds of ghosts and Clara shivered a little but only because it was a lot colder in here than outside. A bedsheet with eyes painted on it was flown past them on strings and Clara heard the Doctor groan next to her.

"You don't seem so very scared," she giggled.

"52nd century amusement park. You'd think by now they could have gotten a better ghost than an old bedsheet," he growled in reply.

"I think it's funny," Clara chuckled as a fake bat circled their heads, "Besides, remember when we went to that orphanage and were terrified of what was probably nothing more than a kid under a blanket?"

"Yeah but it _could have been_ more than a kid under a blanket. We never checked."

Clara thought about that crazy day, about how she had met young Danny and later on Orson at the end of time. She had visited him in her own TARDIS a long time ago and found out he had been a descendant of one of Danny's cousins. He had been one more mystery she had uncovered.

"I went to Gallifrey that day," Clara suddenly heard herself say.

"What?" the Doctor asked and his question was almost drowned out by what probably should have been a Banshee scream.

Clara inhaled sharply. "You had blacked out and something at the end of time was knocking furiously, trying to get into the TARDIS and we needed to get away. I used the telepathic interface and it brought me to Gallifrey, to the barn. I saw you as a little boy."

In the low, red light Clara thought she saw the Doctor smile. "I already thought that was where you had gone. I remembered that night, you know. I just. . . couldn't really place the voice. Did you ever find out what was knocking at the end of the Universe?" he asked, a hint of a laugh in his voice.

"No, did you?"

He chuckled. "It's quite simple when you think about it. The one immortal being left at the end of time."

Clara's mouth fell open but just as she was about to say the name of her former companion the car stopped abruptly. She looked at the Doctor to see if he had any idea what was going on but he seemed just as clueless and shocked when all of a sudden the alarm started howling. Red lights were flashing on every corner.

"Attention all visitors!" a mechanical voice came from the speakers, "We have an unforeseen malfunction inside the tunnel. Please use the nearest emergency exit."

The Doctor groaned even louder. "Great," he spat and raised his voice, now shouting back at the speakers, "A boring ride that doesn't even work properly. What happened? Did your bedsheet fall off?"

"Come on," Clara gave him a soft push, "The exit is on your side."

He mumbled more complaints as they climbed out of the car and just as Clara was about to let go of the car a cold, metal hand grabbed her own.

"You will be upgraded!"

Clara let out a terrified scream as she saw herself face to face with a Cyberman.

"Clara!" the Doctor cried out and immediately came to her aid, drawing his sonic out of his pocket and pointing it at the hand of the Cyberman. It let Clara go but as they attempted to run it followed close behind.

"You will be upgraded," it repeated it its mechanical, emotionless voice, "Or you will be deleted."

They made a run for the emergency exit and as soon as the door was closed behind them the Doctor blocked the lock with his sonic.

"That won't keep it out forever," Clara shouted in panic, "What are the Cybermen doing here?"

He shrugged as he gasped for breath. "They're fond of amusement parks? We need to get out of here and alert everyone."

Clara, still panting from the run, only nodded and followed the Doctor through the semi-darkness until she ran straight into his back.

"Doctor, why did you stop?"

"Clara," his voice was careful and wary, "Do. Not. Blink."

"What?!" she asked and looked past the Doctor's back. There it was, plain for her to see even in the dim light. A Weeping Angel with his teeth bared threateningly, only waiting for them to close their eyes for even a second.

"Okay," Clara breathed, her eyes fixed on the statue in front of them, "A Cybermen behind us and a Weeping Angel in front of us. Any idea how we could use this to our advantage?"

The Doctor didn't reply for quite a while.

"The Cyberman seems awfully quiet behind us," he noted after a moment, "Not even trying to break through the door."

"Well, you locked it," Clara argued.

"Yeah, but it doesn't know that," he paused, "Clara, close your eyes."

" _Are you nuts?_ "

But Clara didn't even have to. A second later the lights went out, leaving them both in complete darkness. She reached for the Doctor's hand and waited for the Angel to attack but nothing happened.

"Doctor, why isn't it attacking?" she asked quietly.

"Because it's just a statue. It's not real and neither is Cyberman. The car breaking down, the alarm, _this_ , it's all part of the show."

The Doctor lit their way with the sonic and when Clara came to look at the Angel again she realized that it really hadn't moved at all. Slowly the Doctor led the way along the corridor, past a Silence and two Daleks shouting _Exterminate!_ at them.

"You gotta admit," Clara said after a moment, "They're quite realistic."

"Well, wouldn't be much of a horror show if they weren't."

Clara let out another giggle. "They even fooled you for a moment."

Instead of answering the Doctor pushed open a door and Clara was momentarily blinded by the bright daylight.

"Sooooo, how was it?" she heard Elsie's excited voice.

"I've seen scarier things," the Doctor said and Clara nudged him in the ribs.

"It was good," she told Elsie.

"Do you want to do the _Water-Air-Ride_ now?"

Clara smiled to herself. Elsie had obviously inherited the Doctor's enthusiasm about things she enjoyed, even though he didn't seem quite as enthusiastic as her at the moment and so Clara decided to play Elsie's game.

"You know what," she said, "You two go. I could use a break after this."

"Alright," Elsie grinned and reached for the Doctor's hand, pulling him in the direction of the _Water-Air-Ride_ but not without complaints about touching from his side. Clara followed them to the entrance, glad to see that after a while the Doctor gave up protesting. He would warm up to her eventually just as Clara was beginning to warm back up to him after being separated for 299 long years.


	7. Chapter 7

_Thank you so much for the reviews :)_

 **Chapter 7**

"And now your wardrobe should be the facing the right way," the Doctor said and pushed a button on the TARDIS console.

"Thanks, Dad," Elsie smiled and threw her arms around his chest. The Doctor grew stiff at the sudden embrace and threw Clara a pleading look, hoping she would help him get out of this but Clara only chuckled and nodded. Reluctant the Doctor patted Elsie's back. When finally she let go of him the Doctor took a deep breath and granted her a weak smile.

"Good night," Elsie beamed at both of them before she turned away and left the console room.

"Admit it," Clara teased once the girl was out of earshot and she had joined the Doctor at the console unit, "She's a sweet girl and you like her."

"Of course I like her. She's our daughter."

It was true. The Doctor had liked her from the moment she had showed up in his TARDIS, even though the reason for it had only become clear later. Elsie reminded him so much of Clara in so many ways, and then again she reminded the Doctor of himself. It was just that the story behind her existence scared him senseless. When he looked at her the Doctor knew that soon he would have to be intimate with Clara, something that he wanted but that also terrified him more than any Dalek in the universe. What if he disappointed her? Clara was so young and so beautiful and this regeneration of him wasn't exactly blessed with youth. He had also never done it in this body, there was no way of telling how it would react, how long he could last.

"I had a lovely time today," Clara said and suddenly her hand was on his cheek, her touch tingling on his skin. Oh, this damned body. It was so hypersensitive to touch.

"I, uhm, eh," he stammered, "So did I."

Clara smiled sweetly at him. "I would like to kiss you."

His eyes shot wide open and his mouth suddenly felt dry as he searched his brain for a good answer to this one. Did he want to be kissed by Clara? He thought he did. But did he even remember correctly how kissing worked? Sure, his mouth on her mouth, a bit of tongue, a bit of sucking, maybe biting. Would Clara like biting?

The Doctor didn't have much time to think about it any further as Clara went up on tiptoes and pressed their lips together. His body froze immediately when her warm mouth touched his own and he wanted to pull away and yet he didn't want to pull away at all. He parted his lips.

Clara's tongue was careful as she dipped inside his mouth as if she wasn't sure of it herself and he was starting to enjoy it just a little. Her lips were so soft and he could still taste the strawberry candy floss on them that she had shared with Elsie just before they had headed back inside the TARDIS. The Doctor swept his tongue over her lips just to get a little more of the taste when suddenly her entire body was pressed against him, pushing him back against the console unit, touching him, her hips rubbing against his own. It sent the strangest feeling down into his loins, a tingling that was even stronger than her touch usually caused. Rubbing against her felt so good that he had almost let out a grown and the Doctor wanted more. His body was reacting quickly and in ways the Doctor hadn't quite expected yet and when he felt the blood leave his head to travel south his sense suddenly returned to him and he swiftly pulled away before she even had a chance to notice.

The Doctor's mouth opened and he had meant to say something but he couldn't quite find the right words. Instead he stumbled backwards, away from Clara who looked just as confused as he felt. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers, again trying to say something but failing. His brain was a mess, unable to form even a single sentence and before Clara could grab the opportunity the Doctor darted out of the console room.

* * *

Clara giggled to herself once she was alone in the room. She had kissed the Doctor, actually kissed the Doctor and she had liked it. Unable to say what had made her do it in the first place Clara blamed it on the sugar rush that had caused a sudden surge of bravery but she knew that she definitely wanted to do it again. Once the Doctor had calmed down of course. Hopefully she hadn't scared him too badly.

A noise suddenly caught her attention and, a frown on her face, Clara stepped towards the railing and spotted Elsie hiding in the room below the console.

" _Elsie!_ " Clara cried out, "Have you been spying on us?!"

The girl stared at her with large eyes, obviously knowing that she had been caught and that there was no way out of this situation.

"How did you get down there?!" Clara demanded to know, "I saw you leave the room."

Elsie smiled apologetically. "I know a shortcut."

Clara sighed as she walked down the stairs to join her daughter under the console. The lights were warm and low and the humming sounds of the engine a little louder than upstairs but nevertheless Clara settled on one of the hatches that opened to the inner parts of the time machine. After she patted the seat next to her Elsie finally joined her.

"Elsie, I realize that your situation is a complicated one. You know that unless your father and I conceive you soon you will disappear but-" Clara paused, looking at her daughter. She acted so grown up that sometimes Clara forgot she was only twelve and on the inside probably very, very frightened, "The situation isn't easy for us either. I haven't seen him for almost 300 years and before that we parted under difficult circumstances. I love the Doctor and I am sure he feels something like that for me, too. But we both need a little time to get used to the idea."

"We don't have time!" Elsie said, her voice desperate.

Clara exhaled sharply before she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Elsie in a tight embrace. "Don't worry. I promised you that we won't let anything happen to you and I stand by that. But to get closer to each other your father and I need a little privacy," she let go to look at her daughter, "And we can't have that if you continue to press your ear to the door or sneak up on us. Do you understand?"

Elsie frowned but eventually nodded in agreement.

"Okay," Clara said, "How do I punish you in the future for things like spying on your parents?"

"Not at all?" her daughter smiled sheepishly.

"Nice try," she rose from her seat and held out her hand for Elsie to take, "Come on, let's go to bed."

As they walked along the TARDIS corridors there was another question slowly forming in her mind but Clara wasn't entirely sure whether Elsie actually had the answer to that one.

"Do you have any idea why the Time Lords might have tried to interfere with us, with your birth?" she asked.

Elsie shrugged next to her. "Dad, well, Dad from the future, he told me about the Hybrid before he sent me back in time. He said it was an ancient prophecy on Gallifrey but I've met them," she paused, looking sad, "We've been to Gallifrey a few times and they hated me. I overheard some of them talk – accidentally of course – and they said to breed humans with Time Lords was a disgrace."

" _They said that?!_ " Clara blurted out, disgusted at the idea of Elsie overhearing these things about herself.

"One even said it to my face," she admitted.

Clara was fuming. After everything she had heard about the Time Lords, everything she had seen she had thought it couldn't get any worse. But to say something like that to a child was something she hadn't expected of them, of anyone except maybe the Daleks with their sick sense of purity. "Listen to me, Elsie," she said strictly, looking at her, "You are anything but a disgrace! You are a beautiful, intelligent and brave, young girl! You are our daughter and you know what?! Screw the Time Lords, screw all of them! We will save you and we will show it to them! Got that?"

A light smile washed over Elsie's face.

"And now you'll go to your room," Clara ordered, "As punishment for the spying."

With a giggle Elsie turned away from her and darted off in the direction of her room, leaving Clara alone on the corridor. There was no way Clara would let the Time Lords win this one. First thing in the morning she would make her next attempt to seduce the Doctor, ready or not.


	8. Chapter 8

_Thank you all so much for the reviews! They make my day 3_

 **Chapter 8**

Clara found the Doctor in the console room, dozing in his favourite arm chair, a book laid across his lap, and she smiled to herself. She had heard him tinker with something somewhere in the TARDIS in the middle of the night when she had woken up and left her room for a glass of water – one of the downsides of being alive again – and she guessed that at some point he must have simply fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion. Quietly Clara walked up to him and reached for the book, taking it from his hands as carefully as possible before she laid it down on the shelf. She had always known that he needed sleep, even though he needed less than a human being, but Clara had never caught him actually asleep before.

299 years and she had never forgotten his face while many others had faded over time. Of course she had sometimes wondered whether he might have regenerated in the meantime, wondered whether she would recognize him at all if she met him with a new face. But she always did. Clara carried not only her own memories but also those of some of her echoes, faint ones, and it was more like remembering a dream than anything else. Clara would always recognize her Doctor, no matter what face he wore.

Without thinking about it Clara bent down and placed a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth simply because that was what she wanted to do right now. The Doctor woke with a start and when he sat up his head almost collided with her own.

"Clara!" he blurted out in shock, "W-w-what are you doing?"

"Calm down," she said quietly and sat down on the arm rest next to him, "You need to loosen up a bit. It was just a kiss, it doesn't hurt."

"I, I know that," the Doctor replied defensively.

"Then stop looking so startled," Clara said and when she realized how angry her voice sounded took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I know you don't even like hugging but can't you at least try? Our daughter's existence is at stake here."

The Doctor hesitated for a long moment before he reached for her hand and reluctantly took it in his own. "I want to," he admitted, "But I-"

He broke off and Clara waited for him to continue but he never did. Instead he carefully stroked her hand with his fingers.

"You're scared," Clara realized, "But you don't need to be. It's only me."

The Doctor scoffed softly, a sad smile appearing on his face. "That's exactly the point."

"You just need practice, that's all," she said and without further warning she leaned forward and brought their lips together. He was so reluctant at first, like he had been the night before but eventually he opened his lips to her and allowed her in. The kiss was shy and careful and Clara hated it when he eventually pulled away and scrambled to his feet.

"Doctor!" she said angrily, "Don't you dare run away again!"

But as she looked past the Doctor she could make out Elsie's figure right before she vanished into the corridor.

"Elsie! We talked about this!" Clara called after her but the girl didn't return.

"I'll get her," the Doctor said quickly and followed their daughter into the corridor, running away again like the coward he so often was.

* * *

Elsie had to think quickly. Her parents would never be able to conceive her in time so she had to help them and she already has an idea how. The only question was how to get it.

When she heard the Doctor approaching she quickly pulled her own sonic screwdriver out of her pocket, opened it and hid the wood enabler back inside her pocket just when her father walked around the corner.

"Elsie," he spluttered when he saw her, "W-w-w-what are you doing here?"

She held up her screwdriver. "My sonic broke."

Suddenly the expression on her father's face changed, looking somewhere between curious and in awe as he took the sonic screwdriver from her hands and turned it around a couple of times, inspecting it.

"Marvellous," he whispered, holding it closer to his eyes, "I didn't know you had your own screwdriver. And we can have the TARDIS make you a new one if you like."

"I'd rather fix this one," Elsie replied with a smile, "You gave it to me for my 10th birthday."

The Doctor switched it on and it started emitting a purple glow with the usual whirring sound.

"It seems to be working fine," he mused as he handed it back to her.

"It does, it just stopped working on wood," she explained.

Her father knitted his eyebrows at her. "These don't work on wood. I've tried for centuries."

"You found a way eventually," Elsie beamed at him, "And I know where to get the replacement part. You just have to take me there."

"Alright," the Doctor agreed, putting on a smile, "Maybe I should get one for myself, too."

* * *

The market was bustling. Clara had travelled the universe for so long but still she found herself turning her head in every direction, spotting aliens she had never seen before, smelling scents she had never known and hearing the sounds of strange musical instruments sold at the nearest booth.

"I won't be long. Meet you back here in an hour," Elsie said hastily as she started making her way through the crowd, finally waking Clara from her trance.

"Hey, wait!" she called after their daughter, "Should you go off on your own?!"

Elsie stopped and pouted, turning to look at her father.

"Ah, let her go," he said after a moment, "Just stay out of trouble, okay?"

"Will do," she beamed and them before darted off.

Clara watched her vanish in the crowd before she followed the Doctor along the booths, not saying anything for a while and instead marvelling at everything on display. However the thought about Elsie wouldn't leave her alone.

"Are you sure it was a good idea to just let her wander off on her own?" Clara asked after a moment before she bit down on her lip. Anything could happen to Elsie and Clara was sure the girl had inherited enough of her father to know exactly how to find trouble.

"Why not? She must have done it before."

"We don't know that," Clara argued, "We're her parents, we are responsible for her and yet we hardly know anything about her. I know she seems very grown up but she's only twelve years old."

The Doctor groaned and rolled his eyes. "Elsie said she'd stay out of trouble."

"Yeah, and how often did you say there would be no trouble and we ended up running for our lives?" Clara asked dryly, raising her eyebrows at him.

He seemed to consider her argument for a moment. "Good point," he said and suddenly broke out into a run, "Elsie!"

They caught up with her in front of a booth that sold all kinds of alien herbs and Clara spotted her immediately as she closed the zip of her jacket.

"I changed my mind," the Doctor panted as he came to a halt, "You don't wander off alone."

Elsie chuckled. "Relax, Dad," she said before she opened her pocket and retrieved a small chip before quickly zipping it up again, "I already got the spare part I needed. We can go back to the TARDIS if you like."

"Or," Clara said, "We could all have a stroll around the market together?"

When the Doctor and Elsie both agreed Clara used the opportunity and reached for the Doctor's hand as they started walking. He seemed surprised at first but to her relief he didn't pull away.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

When the Doctor settled back in his arm chair in the evening to read Clara decided to kick off her shoes and join him. They had walked for hours but luckily managed to avoid trouble and Clara was thankful to finally put her feet up.

"I liked the market," Clara said after a moment, making the Doctor look up from his book. He gave her a smile and was about to reply when suddenly Elsie entered the room, carrying two large, steaming mugs.

"I made you some hot cocoa," their daughter announced with a bright smile and handed them to the Doctor and Clara, "Careful, it's still hot."

"Thank you," Clara said sweetly, "That's very thoughtful."

"Yes," the Doctor smiled, "Thank you, Elsie."

Elsie took a few steps back, the expression on her face different than usually and Clara couldn't quite place it. "Well, I'll be in my room now. I'm so tired. I'll probably fall asleep in under five minutes," she laughed a little nervously before she turned around and headed for the corridor, "Good night!"

"That was a bit weird," Clara said, her eyebrows still raised even though Elsie was long gone.

"Why?"

She turned to look at the Doctor who was already sipping his cocoa. He was as clueless as ever. "I don't know," Clara shrugged and decided to ignore the matter. It was probably nothing. Instead she took a small sip from her drink as well, " _Mhhhhhh_ , this is good."

Now it was the Doctor's turn to look confused as he observed his hot chocolate. "Does this taste like cocoa to you?" he asked.

"Of course it does," Clara replied, "What else would it taste like? And it's really nice of Elsie. I think we did a pretty good job."

The Doctor took another sip and then looked back up at her. "With what?"

Clara smiled. "Raising her. She's incredible. I mean, she's clever and brave and independent and she's our daughter," she laughed and took a large gulp of the chocolate, "And this is really good cocoa."

The hot beverage seemed to warm her up from the inside even though Clara hadn't even been aware that she was feeling cold. It also tasted delicious, better than any other cocoa she had ever had. But something was strange, something felt different. She shifted in her seat, trying to ignore the tingling sensation that was spreading over her body and that oddly seemed to be concentrating between her thighs.

"Phew," Clara blew the air out between her lips and set the mug aside so she could use her hands to fan herself. Was it getting a little warmer in here or was it just the effects of the hot chocolate?

When she turned to look at the Doctor Clara found him still eyeing his drink but there was something else about him. The longer she looked the more Clara liked what she saw. He was incredibly handsome with his ruffled, silver hair and something about the way he layered his clothes – coat over waistcoat over shirt – seemed so inviting. And that belt – had she always fantasized about taking it off?

The Doctor brought his mug back to his mouth and drank, Clara watching his every move, wondering how his lips would feel on her body, sucking her skin. She wondered if they'd taste like chocolate if she licked them. The tingling sensation was growing stronger with every moment and it was only fuelled by the sight in front of her.

Suddenly he cleared his throat. "Clara, I think something's not quite right," he said and now also started shifting in his seat, rearranging the book lying on his lap. She had never seen his eyes so dark.

Then Clara couldn't contain it any longer. She jumped up from her seat and knocked the mug and book out of his hand before she straddled his lap. The ceramic shattered on the floor but Clara only faintly registered it when she pressed her lips on his own and this time his reaction wasn't chaste. He kissed her hungrily, his tongue almost plunging inside her mouth and Clara moaned in response. His hands seemed everywhere at once. At the back of her head, under her skirt, cupping her breasts and Clara loved everything they did as she started grinding against his crotch. The Doctor was already hard beneath her, as desperate for her as she was for him and she couldn't possibly wait any longer. She had to have him. Now.

Clara was panting when they parted lips to catch their breath but she still managed to smile at him. "I need you," she said breathlessly, "Right here. Right now."

Just as she was about to kiss him again the Doctor stopped her so instead she lowered her mouth to his neck. His entire body jerked up at to meet her at the sensation.

"Clara," he said, his voice strained in arousal, "The cocoa."

A moan came over his lips as she dropped her hand between his legs and squeezed hard.

"The taste," another moan, "It's an alien aphrodisiac."

Clara heard the words, she grasped their meaning but right now she couldn't care less about it. The only thing that was important at this moment was that she needed him inside of her soon or she would burst.

Finally their lips were touching again, his hands were back on her thighs, keeping her firmly pressed against him and to Clara it seemed like she needed it more than air. Her hands wandered to his chest, ripping his waistcoat and shirt open until she could feel his skin. Too many layered between them.

The Doctor didn't protest as she dropped her hands to his belt and opened it, soon freeing his erection from the confinement of his trousers. He was hot and heavy in her hands and Clara almost went insane with want for him. He helped pull down her knickers, her juices already flowing down her thigh as she lowered herself on top of him. She let out a moan as he entered her and the Doctor let his head fall back, opening his mouth but no sound came out.

It wasn't enough. Clara needed more of him, needed him deeper and so she pushed herself down harder, the Doctor countering her every move, his breath coming out as ragged as her own. The Doctor sat up and wrapped his arms around her back, pulling Clara closer to him and changing the angle as he pushed back inside of her. Clara couldn't help but cry out. He felt so good inside of her, so big that it was almost unbearable and every thrust brought her closer to the edge. It was too soon. Everything was happening so quickly and she didn't want it to end just yet but when Clara opened her eyes to look at him, his face a grimace of painful pleasure, she knew he wouldn't last much longer and so she let it happen. Her orgasm washed over her in waves and she tightened her walls around him, causing the Doctor to whimper beneath her right before he spilled himself inside of her.

Clara withdrew herself from him, not feeling particularly satisfied, and took a couple of shallow breaths.

"That was. . .," the Doctor panted but broke off before he could finish his sentence.

"Quick. . . uh-huh," she replied breathlessly as she rose from her seat, "I think I need to freshen up."

She walked down the stairs but couldn't shake the feeling that something still wasn't right. She was still too agitated, too. . . Clara turned around to ask but when she spotted the Doctor at the top of the stairs she noticed that he, too, probably still felt the same way. His erection was as hard and firm as before when he glared down at her.

"Doctor, you, erm-"

"Told you. Alien aphrodisiac," he said as he came towards her. Before Clara knew what was happening he had pulled her dress over her head and lifted her on top of the TARDIS console, the buttons digging comfortably into the flesh of her back.

"How long is this gonna last?" Clara's question was drowned out in a whimper when he entered her again.

 _"No idea," he replied before Clara pulled him down to kiss her again. In the back of her mind Clara already knew that it would be a very,_ _ _very__ _long night._


	10. Chapter 10

_Thank you so much for the reviews! I had a feeling you would like this chapter. But are the Doctor and Clara happy with what Elsie has done?_

 **Chapter 10**

The Doctor woke up feeling a little disoriented. He was definitely in his TARDIS but not in his chair and not in his own bedroom, yet definitely in a bed. A couple of minutes passed before he realized that the duvet felt different on his body than it usually did and then it struck him. He was naked.

Carefully, and trying not to panic, he turned his head and spotted Clara sleeping next to him. The Doctor couldn't be entirely sure but judging by her bare shoulders he took a guess and assumed she wasn't wearing a lot of clothes either. Then it began to dawn on him. The hot chocolate, the strange taste, the alien aphrodisiac. The Doctor gulped. He had slept with Clara.

He rose from the bed and looked around the room, realizing in horror that his clothes were nowhere to be seen. Right, Clara had taken them off on their way to her bedroom. That left him with two options: sneaking out stark naked or stealing the duvet. But that might wake Clara and the Doctor wanted to avoid that at all costs. How could he ever look her in the eyes after last night, after he had let some alien sex drug get the better of him? So he decided to take his chances and just sneak out.

"Doctor?" he heard Clara's sleepy voice just before his hand could reach the door handle but he was too afraid to turn around, "Where are you going?"

"Uhm," he spluttered, "To get my clothes."

"Come back to bed," she mumbled.

The Doctor took a deep breath. How was he going to explain it to her? He had tried to tell her last night but he wasn't sure whether she had actually heard it.

"Clara," he began carefully, "Last night-"

"Was weird, I know," she finished his sentence, "I just. . . I don't know. I suddenly really wanted to do it. And you didn't seem to mind."

"No," he said softly. Of course not. Not with the alien aphrodisiac eliminating all inhibitions.

"Doctor, look at me," Clara demanded and he could hear the rustling of the duvet that told him Clara was probably sitting up in bed.

Slowly he turned back around to face her, covering his manhood with his hands as he came to look at her. The first thing he saw was Clara rolling her eyes.

"Stop being so coy. Don't you think after last night I've seen everything there is to see?" her voice sounded a little angry but the Doctor didn't quite understand why. Did she regret it? Of course she had to regret it. He had messed up again.

"I don't know what came over me last night," she explained with a soft smile. Okay, so she wasn't really angry. That was good news, "But it was a step in the right direction. You and me, we're meant to happen. It was just a little unexpected."

"It was a strong alien aphrodisiac," the Doctor said dryly, "You and I had nothing to do with it."

Clara stared at him and for a long time didn't say anything, which was highly unusual for her. Now she was probably mad.

"I thought the cocoa tasted a little weird but I didn't realize what it was until it was already too late," the Doctor went on to explain.

Suddenly Clara scoffed. "I take back what I said last night. We didn't raise a good daughter. Good children do not give their parents sex drugs!" she spat angrily.

He frowned. "What? You mean Elsie did this?"

"Who else?" Clara asked back, "She wants us to sleep together so we can conceive her and, well, she succeeded in that. She brought us the cocoa."

The Doctor shook his head. "No, no, it can't be. It's a very rare herb, very hard to come by. And Elsie wouldn't do such a thing."

"Oh?" Clara cocked her eyebrows, "Have you forgotten that we saw her at a booth selling herbs yesterday at the market?" She didn't go there for a spare part, she had planned this all along!"

The longer the Doctor thought about it the more sense it made and the more terrible he started feeling about the entire situation.

"Come on, let's get dressed and have a little chat with our offspring," Clara said and jumped out of bed.

The Doctor couldn't move, he couldn't say anything. All he could do was stand there and stare at her naked figure.

"Oh, please," Clara groaned, shaking her head.

* * *

Elsie walked into the console room an hour later and the Doctor had decided to leave it up to Clara to do the talking, especially since he still felt too ashamed to even talk about it. The girl stopped when she saw their stern faces and put on a bright, slightly false smile.

"Good morning," she said warily, "Are we having breakfast soon?"

"First," Clara said strictly, "We're going to have a little chat. What you did to us yesterday was absolutely wrong and you will never do it again. Do you understand me?"

Elsie looked startled and the Doctor already wanted to give in and tell her it would all be alright. He just couldn't resist those large, brown eyes.

"Those eyes don't work on me, Elsie, so you can stop it right now," she scolded her, "I don't know what gave you the idea but it was a bad one. I told you your father and I won't let anything happen to you, I told you we needed a little time and forcing this on us was low, really, really low!"

Their daughter looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry."

"I won't even ask how you know about the herb but you will never use it again, okay?"

The girl nodded slowly before she looked back up at them. "Did it work though?"

The Doctor hadn't even considered the possibility of Clara being pregnant before but now that Elsie mentioned it he remembered what the herb had been for in the first place.

"We should do a test," he said and pointed to a spot next to the console unit, "Clara, stand there."

"A test?" she asked in confusion, "Don't we need to wait a while longer for that?"

"It's a time machine. It's going to compare you now with you in a couple of weeks to calculate the probability of a pregnancy."

Clara shrugged and moved to the spot the Doctor had pointed at. "Alright then."

He pressed a couple of buttons and a light beam appeared, scanning Clara's entire structure before showing the result on screen. The Doctor exhaled sharply. Not pregnant.

"Not pregnant," he announced gravely.

The Doctor heard Clara take a deep breath before she spoke. "Okay, so, we'll just have to do it again until it works," she concluded, causing the Doctor's mouth to fall open. Did she really want to do it again? Soon? How was he going to handle it?, "I'm going to make us breakfast now and think of a suitable punishment for Elsie."

Clara stormed off in the direction of the corridor and once the Doctor thought her to be out of earshot he leaned closer to Elsie. He just had to ask. He knew no other way.

"Do you still have some of that herb?"

" _Doctor! You better not be asking our teenage daughter for sex drugs!_ " came Clara's angry voice from the corridor.

Damn, she knew him too well.

Elsie smiled apologetically. "Sorry Dad, used it all up in the cocoa. Seems like you're going to have to be brave."

With a shrug Elsie followed Clara into the kitchen, leaving the Doctor alone in the console room and more scared than he had been before.


	11. Chapter 11

_Thank you all so much for your awesome reviews :)_

 **Chapter 11**

After breakfast the Doctor had disappeared into the depths of the TARDIS and Clara had no idea where to find him but she was sure that he would turn up eventually. They had both agreed that it would be a fitting punishment for Elsie to confine her to the space ship, which also meant that they couldn't go off to have adventures. Clara was fine with that for the moment. After all, they had other things to work on, number one on that list being a pregnancy.

She had been roaming the corridors for a while when Clara started to hear the familiar sounds of the electric guitar and a smile formed on her lips. She had missed that sound. When the Doctor had first started playing the electric guitar Clara had laughed at him for it, she had told him he was just having a mid-life crisis and assumed he would drop it again after a few weeks. After all, it wasn't the first hobby he had tried out but at least it was a lot less messy than pottery. Yet the guitar had stayed with him and over time Clara had even come to enjoy his little concerts.

Carefully she opened the door to his music room and looked around. Nothing had changed since she had first seen it. It was a cosy chamber with a piano, a drum set, several guitars and a large, comfortable sofa. The Doctor was so lost in his playing that he hadn't even heard her enter.

"Blue Hotel," Clara whispered when he had finished the song.

The Doctor looked up and after a moment granted her a sad smile. "Life don't work out my way."

Slowly Clara approached him and sank down on the sofa next to him. They desperately needed to talk about what had happened the previous night, about Elsie, about everything and yet she didn't quite know how to begin.

"I don't regret what happened last night," she said eventually, "And neither should you."

"Clara-"

"It was good," Clara interrupted him, "A little hurried but I guess we can blame that on the drug. Next time we'll just take it slow."

She smiled at him but the Doctor didn't even look at her.

"You have absolutely nothing to worry about, Doctor," she said softly, "You know I love you, right?"

Finally the Doctor raised his head if only to stare at her in disbelief.

"That's right, I said it," Clara chuckled, "And I mean it. I love you, I've always loved you. It took me a while to see it but nothing it going to change that now."

His face lit up a little and he reached out to take her hand but when Clara thought he was finally going to say the words back to her his features froze.

"What?" she asked, trying not to panic under his frightened gaze, "What's wrong?"

"Clara," he replied in a low voice, "Your pulse."

"What about it?" Clara knitted her eyebrows and tore her hand away from his. She placed her fingers on her wrist but she couldn't feel a thing.

"You don't have one," the Doctor said gravely.

She rearranged her fingers, trying again and again but no matter how hard she tried to feel for her pulse there was nothing there. Her heart had stopped again.

"Here, let me help you with that," the Doctor extended his hand and Clara knew he was going to use his regeneration energy on her again.

"No," she protested loudly and rose from her seat before he even had the chance to force it on her again her will, "It's no good. All it does is work for a few days. I won't let you waste any more of your regeneration energy on this."

"Clara, for all you know I could have limitless regenerations now. Besides, if you are not worth it, then who is?"

"You!" Clara shouted, "There has to be another, better way."

And there was. She knew it. She had seen it work before. But would the Doctor let her?

"Clara," the Doctor said warily and got up from the sofa as well, "I know what what you're thinking but that is a very, very bad idea."

"Why? It worked on Ashildr!" Clara argued, "I'll let you restart my heart with your regeneration energy and then we use this Mire thing. It will keep my heart beating no matter what."

"Yes, it'll do that," the Doctor said sharply, "And it will keep on fixing you forever and it will never stop. Tell me, in those 299 years, didn't you ever think about putting an end to it, didn't you ever think about facing the raven?"

Clara hesitated. Of course she had, she had considered it often. But that was before being reunited with the Doctor, that was when she had thought she would never see him again. Now that Clara had him back she never wanted to leave him ever again.

"That won't be an option anymore once you're immortal. You will have to endure until the end of time and you've seen what it turned Ashildr into," the Doctor said gravely, staring at Clara with pleading eyes.

"It's the only way I can think of to save Elsie," Clara almost whispered.

"And how long do you think you will remember Elsie for?" his voice turned angry again, "You're human. Your brain can't store your memories forever. Right now you can, because you're still frozen, because for your body those 299 years never really happened. But that's all going to change and you will forget everything you've ever loved. And just imagine what that will turn you into."

"Ashildr had no one. I have you," Clara argued, "You are going to remind me."

"And what if I die?" the Doctor asked desperately, "What if I use up all my regenerations? Who's going to remind you then?!"

"You just said you might have limitless regenerations!" Clara inhaled sharply, her voice taking on a calmer tone, "I know that's a gamble. I know the option isn't pretty but so far it's the only one we have. We should both sleep over it."

Finally the Doctor nodded and took a couple of steps across the room, apparently pondering her suggestion.

"Should we tell Elsie? Or wait until we have a solution?" he asked after a while.

"Elsie! Come in!" Clara called out and it didn't surprised her in the least when the door to the music room opened again and their daughter stepped inside, looking very, very guilty. "I take it you heard everything?" she asked, sounding a little bit annoyed.

Elsie confirmed it with a nod.

"But you've forgotten something," she whispered, "The Time Lords will know if you don't return to face the raven and I'm not sure immortality will protect you from that."

"Right," Clara said sarcastically, "Does anyone have good news today?"

The Doctor hesitated for a moment, still pacing the room before he came to a halt in front of Clara and exchanged worried looks between her and Elsie.

"I might have an idea for the second problem," he said, "But Clara is right. We should all sleep over it. There might be better options."

The Doctor sank back down on he sofa and reached for his electric guitar again, signalling to Clara that he wanted to be left alone for a while.

"Elsie, how does a cup of tea sound to you?" Clara asked kindly, placing her arm around her daughter's shoulders.

"Alright," the girl replied and let Clara lead her out of the music room and in the direction of the kitchen while the opening chords of _Blue Hotel_ could be heard across the corridors. For once Clara wasn't really in the mood to scold Elsie for spying on them, they had worse problems to worry about now and if they didn't find a solution soon Clara could never scold Elsie for anything ever again.


	12. Chapter 12

_Thank you all so much for the reviews!_

 **Chapter 12**

Clara couldn't sleep. Of course she didn't really need to now that her pulse had stopped again but when she had retreated to her own bed she had hoped for a few hours of peace that only a dreamless sleep could provide. Yet she hadn't found it. Although Clara knew it was hopeless she kept checking her wrist for even a hint of a pulse that wasn't there and when she realized she wouldn't find any rest she decided to take a long bath.

It was still too early for breakfast and the Doctor and Elsie would still be asleep. It wasn't the food she craved, it was the company because despite racking her brain for hours Clara hadn't been able to come up with a good solution to their rather pressing problem and now all she wanted was a distraction.

Clara was still drying her hair with a towel as she walked into the console room to get the book she had been reading when she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

"Oh, good morning, Clara," the Doctor greeted her, putting on a smile.

But that wasn't what surprised her. The Doctor wasn't alone, instead he was accompanied by a woman who looked exactly like her. And when she said exactly Clara meant she was facing a copy of herself.

"Doctor, is that a-" Clara stopped the question about the echo of herself when she watched the Doctor place his index finger over his lips behind the woman's back. Of course. Clara knew this woman in front of her was an echo but she herself didn't. She had no idea what had brought about her existence and it would be insensitive to tell her.

"This is Oswin," the Doctor explained with a sad smile, "And she has agreed to help us."

Clara looked at the small figure sitting on the steps. This was weird, Clara thought. She had known of the existence of her echoes, she had created them willingly but she had never actually met one before.

Even though Oswin was a copy of herself and looked it somehow she didn't look anything like her at all. The woman appeared sick, pale and utterly weak. How on earth was she supposed to be of any help to them? Clara couldn't help but frown at the pair of them.

Oswin turned to smile at the Doctor. "You saved my City. The least I can do is try to do you a favour in return."

"You saved my life. That's enough of a favour," the Doctor replied.

"You pulled me out of the tunnel!"

"Stop," Clara stepped closer, still very irritated about the entire situation, "Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on here?"

They both turned to look at Clara, the Doctor appearing wary, Oswin simply smiling.

"Oswin," the Doctor paused, "Is going to face the raven in your place."

"No!" Clara protested immediately, "No, absolutely not! I got myself into that mess and I will no let someone else take the fall for it! No!"

"Clara," the Doctor said, his voice careful, "Will you please just let us finish? You can still say no, but please hear us out at least."

She folded her arms in front of her chest but eventually nodded. Never was she going to chance her mind about it. Oswin might be her echo, she might only be alive because of her but that didn't mean she could be sacrificed.

"I'm dying," Oswin said after a moment. There was no regret in her voice, no sadness. It was a plain, simple statement. "I have days, weeks if I'm lucky. Well, if you consider pain, nausea and weakness luck. The Doctor told me what happened. He told me that you would have to go back or they would never stop chasing you. We look alike. I could go in your place and they would never know."

Clara opened her mouth but for a moment she was too stunned to say anything. Yes, it would make sense. It would absolutely make sense to send Oswin to face the raven since she was dying no matter what. But how on earth could Clara accept such an offer?

"Oswin is from The City," the Doctor went on to explain. Clara remembered it vaguely. She had been there once. The City wasn't called that for no reason, it covered the entire planet. "It is sustained by a nuclear power station at the artificial planet's core and when I visited it was threatening to blow. Oswin stopped it but the radiation poisoning is slowly killing her. There's nothing I, or anyone, can do to help her."

"We stopped it together, Doctor," Oswin smiled weakly, "And I would do it all over again. Billions were saved. We owe it to you."

"Doctor, can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?" Clara asked sharply and before he even had a chance to respond she reached for his arm and dragged him into the corridor, out of Oswin's earshot.

"I think you've failed to mention that you've been hanging out with my echoes," she said in a hushed voice that still managed to convey her anger over this recent revelation.

"It was a coincidence," the Doctor argued, obviously failing to see what he had done wrong this time.

"A coincidence you could have told me about!"

"Now?" he asked, "You want to discuss this now? Oswin is dying, Elsie is dying, we don't have time for your jealousy."

Clara laughed. "I'm not jealous."

"Okay then, can we get this over with?"

She inhaled sharply, hesitating a moment. Even though it made so much sense Clara still felt horrible for even considering it.

"We can't expect her to sacrifice herself," she tried to reason with him, "It's not right. And I didn't think you would even suggest such a thing."

Suddenly the hurry and the rush seemed to have gone out of him and the Doctor sighed, almost glaring at her from under his eyebrows.

"You're right," he admitted gravely, "We are asking Oswin to sacrifice herself and it's wrong and I don't plan to make a habit out of it. If there was anything I could do to save her I would and you know that. But this is the only way I can think of to get the Time Lords off our back, to save you. You know that I would do anything to save you, right?"

Clara nodded softly. Unfortunately she knew all too well.

"I went to Oswin and told her she had every reason to say no, that if she even had the slightest doubt about it she _should_ say no. But she didn't. She's your echo, she is brave just like you are and she is determined to make her life count for something up until the last moment."

Clara thought about it and something occurred to her. For 299 years she had assumed that as long as she didn't go back to face the raven there would be no body, her family wouldn't know what had happened to her, they wouldn't grieve but that had been a mistake. It had always been a fixed point in time, inevitable, no way to escape it. And if she didn't face the raven someone else had to.

"Alright," Clara eventually agreed, "Let's do this."

A few minutes later Clara accompanied Oswin to the TARDIS wardrobe. The Doctor had instructed her to find clothes that looked enough like the ones Clara had worn that day to fool the Time Lords and to find a wig that was suitable enough and covered Oswin's bald head. Clara didn't know what to say to her, she felt so guilty for accepting Oswin's offer that she didn't really want to spend more time in her presence than necessary.

"I'm sorry," Clara eventually whispered once they were inside the wardrobe room.

"Don't be," she heard Oswin smile although she couldn't find it in her heart to look at her, "When the Doctor and I saved my planet I knew the radiation would either kill me instantly or poison me fatally. I knew it and I did it anyway. I saved billions and I'm happy to save you and your daughter, and, by extend, the Doctor. I owe him. Without him my planet would be scattered ash right now."

Finally Clara managed to look up, staring right into her own, friendly face.

"He talked about you a lot while he was in The City," Oswin explained, "He didn't mention then that we basically looked like twins though. The Doctor loves you a lot."

Clara knitted her eyebrows. "Did he say that to you?"

Oswin chuckled. "He didn't have to. He wouldn't shut up about you, telling everyone on the rescue mission that we would have solved it much quicker with you around, that you would have liked The City, that he would return one day to show it to you, asked about the best coffee shop."

She couldn't help but smile. Clara had always known that she was very special to the Doctor, but she had never known what he was like without her present. She had just always assumed he would be moody and grumpy and rude to everyone.

"No one from the rescue mission made it out but the Doctor made sure that I did. When I asked him why he pulled me out and not the others he said it was because I reminded him of you," Oswin went on to explain, "I'll face the raven in your place and I'll do it gladly because I know he can't be without you and because my planet owes him this debt. Don't feel bad about it. It's what I want."

 _Slowly Clara nodded._


	13. Chapter 13

**Thank you so, so, so much for the sweet reviews :) To the person asking about Oswin, who was converted into a Dalek: Clara created countless echoes. The two canon echoes we've seen were called _Oswin Oswald_ and _Clara Oswin Oswald_. I'm assuming some had the same name, some probably had completely different names, some were likely called Clara Oswald like the original. Whenever I use an echo in one of my fics (like The Doctor's Secret) I call her Oswin to make it plain that this person is an echo, but it's not the same Oswin that was turned into a Dalek. **

**Chapter 13**

The Doctor closed the TARDIS door behind him and took a deep breath, trying to ban the last hour from his memory.

"How did it go?" Clara asked carefully and the Doctor looked up, the sound of her voice and the sight of her face making his hearts beat just a little faster.

He had taken Oswin to Gallifrey while Clara had stayed behind in the TARDIS, he had taken her back to the extraction chamber. He had thanked her again and again, only to earn a knowing smile in reply. Oswin had been brave, so brave and the Doctor had watched her with tears in his eyes as she had stepped onto Trap Street to face the raven, to save Clara. While the Time Lords had questioned him about why he had run away with her in the first place there was only one thing the Doctor had been able to think about and that reason was back inside the TARDIS, waiting for him.

"Doctor?" Clara asked again, waking him from his thoughts and without further consideration he stepped closer but hesitated just inches before their bodies touched. He wanted to kiss her now. He wanted it so much that for a moment he forgot all about his fears and insecurities.

Clara looked confused while she stared up at him and before he could change his mind about it the Doctor bent down and brushed their lips together. He loved how soft they were, how he could wrap his own lips around her lower one, how Clara responded by opening her mouth and crossing the last distance between them so their bodies touched. She wrapped her arms around him as their kiss deepened and for once the Doctor didn't want it to end at all.

When eventually they broke apart Clara was grinning at him. "Are you kissing me, Doctor?" she asked, the amusement audible in her voice.

"It would seem so," he replied, smiling as he stepped away from her.

"May I ask what brought about this sudden. . . change?"

The smile faded from his lips when he thought about Oswin, about Clara, about everything he had seen and lived through. Even though it seemed so far away now that she was back by his side her presence couldn't undo it, only make it easier to bear.

"It all happened," the Doctor confessed gravely after a while, "Even though you're here it still happened. I still saw you on Trap Street, facing the raven. I saw your body lying on the ground, I carried you inside, I stayed with you-"

The Doctor broke off. Taking Oswin back had revived all those memories and even though now he knew that it hadn't been Clara at all there had still been a time in which he had grieved for her. Four and a half billion years. No trick could ever undo that. And he wouldn't go through it again.

The Doctor reached for her hand and felt for her pulse which wasn't there. They had tricked the Time Lords but not Time Lord science.

"I know where we might find another Mire helmet," the Doctor eventually said.

Clara frowned at him. "I thought you were against the idea?"

He scoffed softly. "I'm also very much against the idea of losing you again. But it's your decision. You're the one who's going to have to live with it – forever. And I want you to know what that means. There is no end to it and I might not be there for you all the way."

Clara smiled at him and raised her hand to gently touch his cheek. "Or you might. We'll just have to take that risk. Now, shall we tell Elsie?"

"One more thing," the Doctor said and gestured for her to turn around. With a frown on her face Clara did as he asked and once she had her back to him he lifted up her hair. Right. The Chronolock.

"Gone," the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief.

"What? Really?" Clara spun around to face him again, feeling her neck but of course she found that for her touch nothing had changed, "I thought I'd still have it even after Oswin? I mean, it was _on me_ , not her."

The Doctor gave a light shrug. "We took you out of Trap Street a second before the raven-" he broke off, still unable to say it, "My only explanation is that it was too late for the it to stop and the debt has been paid. Ashildr said it demanded one death. It got that."

Clara nodded softly, the thought of Oswin meeting the cruel fate that had been meant for her still weighing heavy on her shoulders. "So, Elsie? Unless she spied on us again?"

A frown suddenly appeared on the Doctor's face. "Where _is_ Elsie?"

"I don't know," she replied, "I haven't seen her today. I thought she was still sleeping."

"Let's go and find her," the Doctor said, a wariness to his voice as he took her hand and gently pulled her in the direction of the corridor.

When they knocked on Elsie's door there was no answer so they tried the bathroom with the same result. The kitchen was empty as well and although the Doctor was beginning to feel hungry finding Elsie was the priority for now. They searched the swimming pool, the cinema room, the game room and the place where he kept all of his musical instruments.

"The wardrobe maybe?" Clara suggested hopefully.

A bad feeling was beginning to creep up inside of him and when he looked at Clara the Doctor realized that she was probably thinking the same thing. What if it was already too late? What if Elsie had faded for good now?

"Let's check her room again," he concluded and led the way.

Again there was no answer when they knocked and this time the Doctor didn't let that stop him and he entered the room. It was empty. Messy and her bed unmade, but empty.

"Elsie?!" Clara's voice called out, looking around the room, "Elsie, where the hell are you?"

"She will come back," the Doctor said determinedly, "If she vanished for good it would mean she had never existed in the first place and we shouldn't be able to remember her at all."

Clara cleared her throat and looked up at him. "Do you know that for sure or are you just hoping?"

"I'm hoping," the Doctor breathed.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you to knock?" Elsie asked, sounding a little angry and when the Doctor and Clara turned around there she was, sitting on her bed, still dressed in her pyjamas.

The Doctor noticed Clara breathing a sigh of relief next to him and he just felt happy to see her. It was insane how attached he had become to her in such a short time even though he wasn't quite sure how to show it. He just knew that he didn't like not having her around.

"Where have you been?" Clara asked their daughter, her voice worried.

"What do you mean?" Elsie asked back, looking confused, "I was right here."

The Doctor and Clara exchanged a few glances and eventually he decided to enlighten her. "No, you weren't," he said a little more harshly than he had intended and quickly lowered his voice, "When we came in the bed was empty."

"Oh," Elsie uttered as the realisation struck her and she looked a little bit scared. But she managed to hide it well under a false smile, "Well, I'm back now. Anyone for breakfast?"

* * *

They told their daughter about the recent developments over a large portion of ham and eggs and some hot chocolate (this time not laced with alien sex drugs) and Elsie seemed glad that they had found the solution to one problem and that the other, slightly more pressing issue would be resolved soon. However the Doctor insisted on a little more planning but wouldn't go into detail. Mainly because he didn't know any details yet.

While Clara retreated to the swimming pool later the Doctor set out to organise their pursuit of the Mire helmet when suddenly he found himself distracted by music.

He raised his head and frowned. Someone was playing his guitar.

The Doctor found Elsie in his music room, playing the cherry red Epiphone that he had brought to the diner to see Clara one last time and to his surprise she was good at it.

"Who taught you?" the Doctor asked suspiciously as he sat down next to her on the sofa.

Elsie smiled at him. "You did."

"Ah, of course," his lips curled up, "Silly question."

"This one's my favourite," she explained, nodding towards the guitar in her lap.

"I prefer the other one," the Doctor pointed at the Fender Stratocaster leaning against the wall right next to them, "What's your favourite band?"

Elsie giggled and started playing the opening chords of _Hammer To Fall_ and the Doctor laughed. Well, at least when it came to music they had raised her right.

"We should go to a concert," he suggested after Elsie had stopped playing.

Her smile turned into a frown. "I've been begging for ages! Mum says I'm not old enough yet!"

The Doctor leaned closer to her, his voice turning into a whisper. "We don't have to tell her."

His daughter grinned at him mischievously.

"But first," the Doctor said in a stricter manner, "We need to make your Mum immortal and for that we need a Mire helmet. Or, what's inside a Mire helmet, to be precise."

"Isn't it dangerous to attack the Mire? I've heard they're the best warrior race in the galaxy."

"Don't tell that to Uncle Strax or he'll be very cross with you," he rose from his seat, "Besides, we're not going to attack a Mire. We're going to break into a vault. Wanna come?"

Elsie beamed at him. "You bet."


	14. Chapter 14

_Thank you for the reviews :)_

 **Chapter 14**

The plan was perfect and there was no way it could possibly fail. At least that was what the Doctor had told them even though Clara decided not to take his word for it. Apparently the Doctor had once met a collector of alien artefacts called Henry van Statten many centuries ago and had found a couple more of his kind. Rich people who spent their money on things they would never be able to understand simply because they had originated on a different planet and simply because they could. One of those was in possession of a Mire helmet and they were about to steal it, or at least what was inside it.

Clara stepped into the great hall that was the size of a hangar and gasped. "Oh my God," she uttered at the amount of things this collector had accumulated over the years. She recognized a few items on display, all neatly placed within a glass case and probably secured by all sorts of alarms. It wasn't just a private collection, it was a museum.

"Hey," Clara almost cried out when she saw it and immediately approached the display case to be perfectly sure, "That's my first sonic bracelet! How did that get here?"

The Doctor stepped up to the case and eyed the device first before throwing her a suspicious look. " _Sonic bracelet?_ "

Clara glanced up at him and eventually shrugged. "Well, I wanted a sonic _something_ ," she explained sheepishly, "Screwdriver seemed impractical cause it looks important. Remember when the Sheriff of Nottingham took yours? And the sunglasses were _your_ thing, so I wanted something else. I thought it looked pretty and not too suspicious."

Suddenly Elsie cleared her throat behind them. "Ehem," she said, "Aren't we here for something else?"

"Right," the Doctor suddenly seemed to remember and walked across the room to a stand filled with brochures. He picked up one of them and skimmed through without really paying attention to what it said while Clara and Elsie gathered around him.

"Here," the Doctor pointed to a specific paragraph and held the brochure so Clara and Elsie could read it.

 _This exhibit is a faithful replica of a helmet worn by a Mire, a member of the greatest warrior races in the galaxy._

There was more but Clara had stopped reading at the word "replica". If this wasn't the original helmet they had come here for nothing. Luckily the Doctor read on.

"The original helmet is considered too valuable for public presentation and the owner has decided to offer private, guided tours only for his most interesting exhibits. Private, guided tours can be arranged upon request. Please note that they are only available to one person at a time," the Doctor read before he beamed at them.

"What are you smiling about?" Clara asked him, "It's not here. This whole trip was for nothing!"

"Oh, it's _here_ ," he said with a broad grin, "It's just not _now_."

The Doctor suddenly began walking around the room, appearing to be looking for something while Clara watched him, wondering what the hell he was up to. "I felt it the moment we landed. There's something not quite right around here. Someone has been tampering with time."

Clara stared at him in confusion, not understanding a single word he said. Elsie however seemed to be able to follow him. Damn Time Lord genes.

"You mean he's hidden his most precious objects, like, a fracture of a second out of sync with the rest?" she asked him.

"Exactly," the Doctor said excitedly, pointing towards Elsie, "He must have at least two vortex manipulators to be able to offer these private tours. Or other means of time travel. Given his collection it wouldn't surprise me."

"So, how do we get it? The TARDIS?" Clara asked, trying to get a word in while the two time nerds were talking.

"Yes," he confirmed, "In the TARDIS."

Clara nodded and made her way back to the blue box until she heard Elsie's voice behind her.

"Hey, you don't wanna leave this behind, do you?" she asked and when Clara turned around it was already too late. Elsie had touched the glass case under which her sonic bracelet was lying and before she could even speak the alarms were howling loudly. Clasps appeared out of nowhere and snapped shut around her daughter's wrists. The room changed colour under the flashing red alarm lights and the sirens were hurting her ears.

"Elsie!" the Doctor cried out and made an attempt to approach her but with a look their daughter told him not to.

"Go!" she yelled, "Get the helmet! The guards will be here soon and there won't be another chance!"

The Doctor hesitated.

"Get me in the TARDIS once you have it!" Elsie told him pleadingly, "But go!"

Clara reached for his hand and pulled him in the direction of the TARDIS, knowing he would never willingly leave Elsie alone. She would be fine. She was their daughter. And they would be back in no time at all. Finally he seemed to comply and eventually closed the door behind them.

"She will be fine," Clara tried to reassure him, "We'll get her in a minute. First we need the helmet."

He nodded and with the flick of a switch brought the TARDIS engines to life, landing only shortly after with a thud. The Doctor and Clara dashed outside to find themselves in the same room, only this time it looked different. The hall was still very much the same although darker and the many glass cases that held the exhibits were gone. Instead they were only three, each standing under a single spotlight. The first Clara didn't recognize, the second was the gun of a Sontaran and the third was what they had originally come for – the helmet of a Mire soldier.

After exchanging a few glances the Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and disabled the alarms before he carefully lifted the glass and set it down by his feet. He checked for more security measures, apparently coming to the conclusion that it was safe and eventually took the helmet and sat down on the floor, helmet in his lap, before he started tinkering. Clara watched him the whole time and eventually a victorious "Ha!" escaped him before he held up the two medical kits that he had found inside.

"We only need one. Put the other back," she told him sternly.

The Doctor knitted his eyebrows. "No, if they realize what we came for they'll know it's of a lot more value than they had originally thought and they will eventually figure out what it is. Better if it's safe in in the TARDIS than sitting here," he concluded and rose back to his feet. After placing the helmet in exactly the same position they had found it in and switching the alarm system back on they both made their way back to the TARDIS.

"Now we get Elsie," Clara said, looking at him hopefully.

"Now we get Elsie," he confirmed and started running around the console unit, pressing a button here, flicking a switch there until eventually he pulled the lever. Slowly but surely Clara saw the TARDIS materialising around their daughter, or rather their daughter slowly appearing inside the TARDIS, still chained to the glass case holding her sonic bracelet.

"Ha! You did it!" Elsie exclaimed happily, "And perfect timing. They were about to unchain me from this." She nodded towards the display case.

The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the clasps and Elsie was released immediately and before Clara could stop herself she had thrown her arms around her daughter in a tight embrace.

"You didn't get into too much trouble, did you?" Clara asked once she had let go of her.

"No," Elsie shook her head, smiling, "When the guards came I told them I had visited the museum with my parents and gotten lost. And then you came back. Did you get the Mire helmet?"

The Doctor reached into his pocket and retrieved the repair kit, holding it up for Elsie to see. "Got what we came for," he said.

Clara looked at it and took a deep breath. If she did this there was no turning back. Ever.

"Let's do it," Clara eventually said and held out her hand in the direction of the Doctor. He needed to restart her heart before she could become immortal.

He hesitated, looking a little lost. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes," she said and put on a smile, "You and me. Forever."

The Doctor nodded and pointed his screwdriver at the medical kit, setting it to human beings like Clara had seen him do it for Ashildr. Then he started shaking out his hand as he approached her until it was beginning to glow with his beautiful, golden regeneration energy. When he had changed it had all happened so fast and the last time he had restarted her heart Clara had been so busy protesting that she had never really paid attention to it but, for all that it meant for a Time Lord, it was beautiful.

This time Clara knew what would happen so she braced herself as he placed his hand above her heart and when she thought that she was going to choke she took a deep breath instead. And then she felt it. The pulse. The beating heart once again pumping blood through her body. Alive once more and soon alive forever.

The Doctor looked at her one last time as he held up the medical kit as if to make sure she was okay with this and Clara only smiled and nodded. He placed it right on her forehead and Clara closed her eyes, feeling it becoming one with her body, feeling it sink into her skin and working its magic. It was strange and it tingled but after a few moments it stopped and only then did Clara dare to open her eyes again.

"How do you feel?" the Doctor asked carefully, taking a step back.

"Alive," was all Clara could reply.

"Did it work, do you feel any different?" Elsie wanted to know as she stepped into her field of vision.

Clara shook her head. "No, not really. But from what Ashildr told me neither did she."

"Oh, it worked," the Doctor smiled, "Don't worry. And you know what? We should celebrate!"

The Doctor almost jumped into the direction of the console unit until Clara cleared her throat, making him turn back around.

"Erm, Doctor, don't we have. . .," she hesitated, wondering how to put it while nodding towards Elsie, "Other matters to attend to?"

For a moment he looked somewhere in between shocked and scared. Now that Clara was alive again, now that she would _stay_ alive they would have to conceive Elsie and he knew it.

"Uhm," the Doctor spluttered before his determination returned to him, "Later. First we celebrate!"

He turned around and pulled the lever, changing their course and Clara shook her head. He was a bloody coward sometimes.


	15. Chapter 15

_Thank you for the reviews :)_

 **Chapter 15**

"You know, when you said we would celebrate," Elsie said, her voice anything but enthusiastic, "I expected a little more than space McDonalds."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You picked that up from your mother, didn't you? There's no such thing as a _space McDonalds_. It's a regular McDonalds, just that it's in space."

"She's right though," Clara threw in, looking around the restaurant that for a McDonalds looked pretty fancy but still she had expected a little. . . more.

She could hear him groan next to her. "This isn't the actual celebration, you know? I just thought you might be hungry because I certainly am."

Even though Clara and Elsie were a lot less excited than the Doctor they ordered their food and drinks and they soon found themselves sitting at a window table with a spectacular view. The restaurant itself had been built on an asteroid with a drive in window for smaller spaceships just like any other McDonalds Clara had seen on earth. Just in space. And for space ships. And the clientele looked a lot more alien. The view outside the window however was what fascinated her most with all the glistening stars and the heart shaped, purple nebula and all sorts of interesting looking passing ships. For a brief moment she wondered how people would have reacted had she landed her diner TARDIS in the parking lot.

"How can we breathe on this asteroid? There shouldn't be air," Elsie said, taking a bite off her hamburger before she looked at him, "How do they do it?"

The Doctor pointed at the sky. "See that space ship?"

Clara couldn't help but look, too, and saw that once the ship had reached a certain height the air around it started to flicker for a moment, almost like the effect visible on highways on a hot day, as if the asphalt was wet.

"There's a force field allowing the space ships to pass but keeping the air in," the Doctor explained.

"Ohhh, right."

Clara, sitting on the opposite side of the table, couldn't help but look at the two of them and for the first time it really dawned on her that they were father and daughter. Even though it was still a little awkward, even though the way Elsie had come into their life was utterly unusual, there was no way they could ever deny being related. She had considered having a romantic and sexual relationship with the Doctor before parting ways with him, but she had never considered the possibility of a family. Yet now that Elsie was here, now that she saw how sweet and wonderful it could be, Clara couldn't imagine wanting a different kind of life. They would conceive Elsie and they would raise a beautiful and intelligent girl that was so much like them it was almost scary.

Clara got up from her seat, walked around the table and sank back down next to the Doctor before throwing her arms around him in a tight embrace. She loved him so much and she loved Elsie and she never wanted to let go of her beautiful, little family.

"W-what are you doing?" the Doctor asked warily and stiffened up even more when Elsie hugged him from the other side.

"Let's call it a hug," Clara smiled to herself when the Doctor uttered a small noise of protest but let them embrace him.

* * *

As it turned out the original celebration was a visit to the _We Will Rock You_ musical at the Dominion Theatre in London. It wasn't a concert, but it was Queen and Elsie was over the moon once she had realized where they were going. She clapped and sang along and was generally cheerful and yet something was bugging Clara all of a sudden, like a constant nagging feeling, a bad taste spoiling a perfectly pleasant evening.

It took her a while to figure out what it was but eventually she knew that it was being on earth and the closeness to everything she had left behind. Her family, her friends, her colleagues and students, they all thought she was dead.

"You're unusually quiet. Didn't you like the musical?" the Doctor remarked after they had left the theatre and were making their way back to the TARDIS that they had parked a few streets away.

"What year is it?" Clara asked back.

"2013," he replied. Elsie, probably picking up on her mood, fortunately remained silent.

Suddenly Clara stopped in her tracks and waited for the Doctor to turn around and look at her. "Clara, what's wrong?"

"I wanna see my family. I wanna see my Dad and Granny. I wanna see them after-" she broke off, "I need to let them know I'm okay."

He hesitated for a long moment, frowning, obviously pondering his reaction. "Do you think that's wise?" he eventually asked.

"I can't let them think I'm dead, I can't let them grieve. It's not right. And Rigsy, too. He is going to feel so guilty and here I am, bouncing around London with you and Elsie."

She felt relieved when the Doctor nodded. "Okay, let's get back to the TARDIS and pay them a visit."

On they way back they decided to talk to Rigsy first as it would be the shorter of the two conversations and needless to say he was stunned, even more so after they introduced Elsie as their daughter. But Clara got exactly what she wanted out of this meeting. Rigsy knew, he was happy, of course, he could move on with his life without thinking she had given her life in an attempt to save him. He and his family would be just fine.

Her own family was another matter of course. They knew nothing about Time Travel, about alien words, about everything she had kept from them in the last few years, maybe they wouldn't even understand and think it to be a trick.

"We've landed," the Doctor said a few moments after the engines had switched off, tearing Clara from her thoughts, "22nd of November 2015. Rigsy said they have received the news by now."

Clara nodded.

"How old is grandpa now?" Elsie suddenly asked.

"Uhm," Clara hesitated. She had to think about the answer for a moment, "He's 55."

"Can I go with you?" she continued, "Please? I've never seen him so young."

Clara shot the Doctor a questioning look and he gave a short nod.

"It's okay," her voice was almost a whisper, "You can come with us."

Clara reached for the Doctor's hand as they walked from the TARDIS to the small house in Blackpool that she had grown up in and her feet felt a little unsteadier with every step.

"How do you tell your family, who think you're dead, that you're not dead at all but immortal?" she asked the Doctor nervously, "How do you tell them you have a time travelling boyfriend who they have met, just with a different face? How do you tell them any of that?"

Suddenly the Doctor's grip around her hand felt a little tighter as they had reached the door and he rang the bell before she even had a chance to turn around. "Well, in my experience it rarely goes well."

"What?" Clara almost yelled at him but there was no time to argue over it now as the door opened and she was staring right into her father's face. At first he appeared to have been crying, then his face changed, his eyes growing wider and wider at the sight of her, his mouth fallen open. The pure shock was written right there across his face.

"Hello Dad," Clara said softly, "It's me."

There was no reply so Clara took a deep breath and continued. "I know you must be in shock, I know you got the news but it's a bit more complicated. Can we come in?"

Dave Oswald's gaze wandered from Clara to the Doctor, then to Elsie and eventually back to Clara yet he still didn't say a word. His silence was unbearable.

"It really is me. I'm alive. You're not dreaming and you're not hallucinating. Please, Dad, just say something."

She saw him close his mouth and swallow until finally a single word came over his lips. "How?"

Clara granted him a weak smile. "We will explain everything. But it takes a while."

Her father said nothing as he held the door open for the three of them, still eyeing them with caution as they stepped inside. Her grandmother sank down into a chair once she spotted them and Linda instantly dropped a cup of tea on the floor.

After the initial shock had settled somewhat they all gathered around the coffee table, Clara clutching the Doctor's hand as tightly as she could while her father was holding on to a glass of Scotch that he never actually took a sip from. Then Clara decided it was time to enlighten them. She started at the very beginning, with the man she had introduced as her Swedish boyfriend, how he could travel through time and space, what they had seen, about Trenzalore and the regeneration, about Danny and eventually everything that had happened around her death and rescue. Her family listened intently and Clara couldn't be sure whether they actually believed her or not.

"So," her grandmother was the first to regain her ability to speak, "The woman they found wasn't you, it was an. . . _echo_?"

"Yes," Clara confirmed, "She gave her life to save mine. Please, when you go to London, make sure her burial is nice and dignified."

"But she's not you," her father blurted out, "Why would we go to London to take care of her?"

"Because to the world Clara Oswald has died yesterday," the Doctor said a little more harshly than Clara had anticipated, "No one can no that woman wasn't her. You have to pretend that she is your daughter."

"But my daughter isn't dead!" Dave Oswald protested angrily, "She's sitting here, right in front of me, telling me all sorts of crazy stories that I'm still not sure I should believe."

"I believe her," her grandmother gave her a smile, "It would explain a lot of things. It would explain why you never mentioned the Doctor after Christmas."

"Yes, because he broke up with her," Linda threw in.

But her grandmother's eyes remained on the Doctor who was starting to shift in his seat a little uncomfortably. Yes, Clara was pretty sure her grandmother knew she was telling the truth.

"And who is this pretty, young girl you've brought with you that looks more than a lot like you?" her granny asked, still smiling.

Clara cleared her throat. "That is actually another very long story but," she turned her head to look at the girl, "Elsie is our daughter."

" _What?!_ " came her father's angry voice again, "I can imagine why you would lie about the space stuff but why on earth would you never tell us you had a child?!"

"Like I said, long story. Just accept it for now. Please."

While her father was glaring at the Doctor her grandmother rose from her seat and approached them, stopping only when she was standing right in front of Elsie.

"Come here, let me look at you," her granny said towards Elsie and spread her arms wide. The girl didn't even hesitate and smiled when she went up to her feet and her grandmother started to examine her thoroughly.

"Oh, you look so much like your mother. And your grandmother, too. I'm sure it's not a coincidence that Elsie is very close to Ellie."

Clara had never actually thought about where the name had come from but now that her grandmother had mentioned it it made all the sense in the world that she would name her daughter after her mother, or at least something similar.

"You will all stay for dinner, of course," her grandmother said determinedly, "And I'm willing to accept everything you have just told us under one condition."

Clara raised her eyebrows. "Under what condition?"

"That you won't go off disappearing into outer space forever. You will visit. This lovely, young lady here needs to get to know her family."

Elsie smiled broadly and after a moment so did Clara. The Doctor said nothing at all and she could feel that he wasn't exactly keen on staying for dinner but he was utterly outnumbered by the Oswald women.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Clara let her feet dangle into the cool water of the TARDIS swimming pool and leaned back. It had been a long, exhausting day. The break in, the space McDonalds, the musical and the visit to her family was more than enough to fill three days and Elsie had retreated to her bed as soon as they were back in the TARDIS. Clara was still torn between going for a swim and doing the same thing.

"How are you doing?" the Doctor as her and when Clara turned around she spotted him standing in the doorway. With a gesture she told him to take a seat next to her.

"It all went better than expected," Clara said with a sigh, "My family knows now, so that's a relief. And Grandma loved Elsie."

Clara smiled to herself at the thought it.

"Your _Dad_ doesn't love _me_ ," the Doctor cleared his throat, "If looks could kill I'd have a new face now. Maybe he'd have liked that better."

"He'll come around," Clara said gently, "It was a lot to take in after all. I think they all handled it pretty well."

"Yes, they did," the Doctor confirmed.

With another sigh Clara leaned against his shoulder, splashing water around the pool with her feet. Every obstacle seemed to be out of the way now. She had her pulse back, she was immortal, she had told her parents everything. There was one last thing left to do.

"We need to conceive her, Doctor," Clara said carefully, "I know you're scared but it's not just about us, it's about Elsie, too. And I don't want to lose her. I want this family life. I never thought I would want it, I never thought it was even possible with the kind of life we're leading but now that I've seen it I don't want anything else."

"Aren't you tired?"

"Doctor!" she said warningly, "Please, no excuses. I don't mean we have to do it tonight and you're right, I am tired, but we need to do it soon."

The Doctor remained silent for a long time and Clara had no idea what was going on inside his silly Time Lord head. Probably just more doubts and excuses.

"I want it, too," he said earnestly and suddenly started to chuckle, "It's funny. Elsie has only been on board of the TARDIS for a few days and I can't imagine not having her here. I'll be sad to see her go."

"Why would she go? We're not gonna let her leave."

"We have to. She has to go back to her own time, to the future you and me and once you're pregnant it could cause all sorts of paradoxes keeping her around. It'll be quiet without her," he said thoughtfully.

"I haven't even considered that," Clara admitted, "But then we'll get to raise her. Right now she's our daughter and we know it but we haven't _seen_ it. We don't know what her first word was or how she took her first steps. We'll get to see all of that."

"Her first word was _Daddy_ of course," the Doctor snorted, his statement making Clara laugh.

"We'll see about that. Could've been _Mummy_ ," Clara argued and slowly rose to her feet. She thought about it for a moment and then held out her hand for the Doctor to take. He only looked at her in confusion.

"Come on," she said, "Let's go to bed."

His eyes widened. "You just said you were tired."

"I know, that's why we're going to bed _to sleep_ ," Clara paused, her arm was beginning to feel tired, "I want to sleep next to you."

"But I don't sleep as much as you," the Doctor tried to argue.

"Doctor, please. Humour me," Clara granted him a smile and finally he took her hand.

They went straight to her bedroom and Clara didn't even bother with taking her clothes off. The day had come crashing down on her on their way to her room and she now felt that the exhaustion had finally caught up with her. Clara simply kicked off her shoes and let herself fall down on her bed.

"Ugh, I could sleep for three days straight," she said while the Doctor was still hesitant to join her. When Clara finally realized that he was stalling she groaned. "Doctor, come on. It's just sharing a bed!"

Finally he complied, took off his shoes and sat down on the edge of the bed. Clara leaned forward and got hold of his arm, dragging him into a horizontal position. With a small sound of protest he sank back into pillows and Clara placed her arm around his waist to keep him exactly where he was. A few moments passed before he finally relaxed a little.

"See, it's not so bad," she told him sleepily and rested her head against his chest.

The Doctor moved once more but only to gently wrap his arm around her shoulders. "You're right. Not _so_ bad."

"Good night, Doctor," she whispered.

"Good night, Clara."

* * *

The Doctor woke up with Clara's arm still wrapped around him. With no watch or clock in this room there was no way of telling how much time had passed or whether Clara had already slept for as long as she needed. He knew she needed more sleep than he did and how cranky she could be when woken up prematurely so he decided it was better not to move at all for the time being. After all Clara had been right. This really wasn't so bad.

Eventually she was beginning to stir next to him and his hearts almost skipped a beat when she opened her eyes to smile at him.

"Good morning," she mumbled, the words drowned out by a yawn.

"Did you sleep well?" the Doctor asked.

"Very well," Clara confirmed happily and started stretching herself. Once she was done with that however she turned around on her stomach and started climbing on top of him. His entire body immediately went rigid.

"Clara-"

"Shhhh," she shushed him right before she bent down and pressed her lips on his own. Right, they had done that before. He liked the kissing even though having her body right on top of his was a new, strange feeling. What was the Doctor supposed to do now? Kissing Clara back, first of all, but would she like him to do something with his hands? What if he did and it wasn't what she wanted? Then she'd probably stop kissing him and that was something the Doctor was trying to avoid.

But then suddenly Clara started doing something with _her_ hand, sliding it down his chest until it was resting right above his crotch. When he felt his member twitch at the unexpected contact the Doctor sat up immediately, bumping heads with Clara as he did.

"Ouch!" she cried out, "Doctor, what-"

She didn't finish her sentence, he didn't give her time. Before she could even say or do another thing the Doctor had jumped up from the bed and darted straight out of the room.


	17. Chapter 17

_Thank you so, so much for the reviews :) Let's see what Doctor Idiot is up to now._

 **Chapter 17**

Clara jumped up and immediately ran after him, vowing to herself that the Doctor wouldn't get away with it this time. They had dealt with the Time Lords, they had dealt with her pulse and even her parents and friends. It was high time to do something about Elsie.

"Doctor," she called after him as she saw him disappear around the corner of a corridor, but that didn't stop him from running away, "Doctor, talk to me!"

She had almost caught up with him behind the corner and the Doctor briefly turned around and threw her a terrified glance. "I, erm, I have to check the engines," he said and quickly hurried off around the next corner.

"You can't run away forever, mister. I know your time machine is infinite but you'll have to face me at some point and I'm not an expert but judging by the angry gurgling the TARDIS is already pretty mad at you!"

Further ahead she heard the Doctor mumble something about the engines sounding funny before he disappeared from her sight again.

Clara let out an annoyed groan. "Doctor, come back and have sex with m-" she broke off when she turned around the corner and almost ran into the Doctor's back. He was standing right in front of their daughter.

"Sorry," Elsie blurted out immediately, avoiding their gaze at any cost, "I didn't mean to spy on you again. I was just on my way to the kitchen."

"It's fine," the Doctor mumbled absent-mindedly and was ready to resume his walk when Clara got hold of his arm.

"No, it's not fine," she said strictly, turning towards Elsie and dragging the Doctor with her, "I'm sorry, Elsie. That is not a conversation you should have overheard."

Their daughter nodded but still didn't look them in the eyes. Clara gave the Doctor a soft nudge in the ribs and after he had realized what that had been for he uttered a quick apology as well.

"I'm gonna make breakfast," Elsie mumbled, eyes set on her feet and trudged off in the direction of the kitchen.

Clara sighed audibly when Elsie had turned around the corner before she looked at the Doctor. "That was insensitive," she told him angrily.

"Why?"

She opened her mouth to scold him but closed it again and instead decided that a punch in the arm was the better punishment. "Because she is our daughter and she is scared that she is going to vanish! And she just heard that we still haven't done anything about it so _it's fine_ is anything but the right response to that!"

The Doctor only stared blankly at her and he still seemed somewhat terrified of her so she decided to let it go for now. "I'm going after Elsie," Clara decided and left him standing there, knowing that talking wouldn't lead anywhere right now and, frankly, she was running out of ideas about what she could say to him.

When Clara reached the kitchen her heart sank. Elsie had her back turned towards her but there was no way she could have missed that her daughter was crying. Once she had noticed Clara however she quickly straightened her back and started busying herself with the frying pan.

"I was going to make pancakes," Elsie said, her voice broken, "Do you want some?"

"In a minute," Clara replied and without thinking she placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder to make her turn around. Her eyes were red and the tears still lingered on her cheeks. With a smile Clara gently wiped them away with her thumb.

"Now, you're going to make the pancakes all salty like that," Clara said kindly, coaxing a small laugh from her daughter.

Before Clara could react Elsie had thrown her arms around her in a tight hug and for a long moment they just stood there, holding each other.

"It's going to be fine," she whispered, although she wasn't so sure about that anymore. The Doctor was such an idiot when it came to that.

"I'm fading," Elsie replied and once she had let go of Clara she bent down and lifted up the legs of her trousers. To Clara's astonishment there was nothing there to see. No feet. No legs. Just nothing.

"Elsie, I-"

"I woke up this morning and I couldn't feel my legs and when I looked they had started to fade. I don't know how I can even still walk around," she confessed, "I'll be gone soon."

Clara knew there was nothing she could say or do right now to make Elsie feel better, there was only one thing. She and the Doctor would do it. Tonight. Come what may. And until then she needed to take Elsie's mind off the matter.

"No, you won't," she said determinedly, "Cause tonight I am going to lock your father in a room and won't let him out until he. . . well, you know. But first we need to lure him out of his hiding hole."

Elsie raised her eyebrows. "How are we going to do that?"

"First we're going to have cornflakes for breakfast and then we'll fire up the oven. I think it's high time I taught you how to make a decent soufflé."

Clara had already opened the fridge when Elsie spoke again. "But how is that gonna lure Dad out of his hiding hole?"

"Because it's like they say," Clara turned towards her daughter, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Trust me, when the Doctor smells baked goods he'll come running."

After a short breakfast and a cup of coffee for Clara they set out to make Elsie's first, real chocolate soufflé. Clara wasn't surprised that her daughter had a knack for baking and she was glad that it seemed to take her mind off their predicament at least for a short while. And what surprised her the least was that as soon as the soufflé was in the oven and the sweet scent of baking was beginning to spread through the TARDIS the Doctor stuck his head through the door. He had changed back into his comfortable plaid trousers and hoodie with an ancient looking band t-shirt underneath it.

"Someone smelled food," Clara teased and waved her hand for him to enter.

He stepped into the kitchen only reluctantly but eventually he settled at the table. Once they were finished they all ate the soufflés in silence, hardly making more than small talk. Clara chose not to tell him about Elsie fading away. That was something she intended to keep to herself and use only if absolutely necessary.

"Well," the Doctor said after shoving the empty soufflé form away from him, "I better check the engines again. I don't like the noise the TARDIS makes."

 _She makes that noise cause you're being an idiot_ , Clara thought but decided not to say it out loud. He would figure it out eventually.

"And I think I'll take a long bubble bath," Clara said instead.

"Good," he mumbled, looking down at his hands, "Good. You, erm, you do that."

Clara couldn't help but notice how hopelessly Elsie looked at them both and all she could do for now was smile at her and pray that everything would turn out to be okay.


	18. Chapter 18

_Thank you so much for the reviews :) You are the best! And now the moment you've all been waiting for:_

 **Chapter 18**

When Clara emerged from the bathroom after a long and relaxing bubble bath she was about to head straight to the console room to find the Doctor when she suddenly spotted a yellow sticky note on the outside of her door. Still suspicious about it she took it off to have a closer look.

 _Meet me here_

 _The Doctor_

There was a tiny, hand drawn map of the TARDIS corridors with a little arrow coming from the word "here" and pointing to one of the rooms they never really used for anything. It was just an empty room. Still Clara decided to have a look at what the Doctor was up to now. At least he wasn't hiding from her anymore, which was probably a good sign.

When Clara opened the door however she found a surprise she had not really expected. The room itself was dark and the centre of it was taken up by what looked like a large fort built out of blankets and sheets. It was glowing yellow and red from the inside, tiny little dots of light and Clara was beginning to suspect fairy lights. With a frown she ducked and stepped inside.

It was warmer beneath the blankets, cosier, the fabric and lights giving it an almost nauseatingly romantic touch. She took off her shoes when she realized the floor was also covered with fake furs and pillows and she already spotted the black boots that she knew too well belonged on the Doctor's feet.

And there he was, sitting in lotus position on a large piece of fur, his face soft and yet nervous under the scarce lighting. He was surrounded by more pillows and several small plates filled with food and a bottle of wine.

Clara beamed at him. "Did you make this?" she asked him in disbelief, hardly able to imagine him capable of romance like this.

In reply he held up a yellow sticky note. "I thought you did."

"Well," Clara breathed as she sank down, "I didn't, so I guess our daughter got creative again. Not that I mind. It's very pretty."

"It is," he said and Clara reached for a small piece of cheese before she stuffed it in her mouth.

When the Doctor reached out to open the wine bottle Clara's eyebrows shot up. "Better check that for alien aphrodisiacs."

He sniffed at the open bottle and then took a sip right from it, frowning as he evaluated the taste. "No aphrodisiac. Just red wine. Good year."

He held the bottle on her direction as if asking and when she nodded he proceeded to pour them both a glass. They drank their wine in silence for a while, occasionally taking a snack from the laid out cheese and grapes and strawberries until Clara decided to move forward.

"We're gonna do it," she decided for both of them, "Here. Tonight."

The Doctor's head shot up and again he looked like a frightened lamb. Clara shook her head, laughing.

"Why are you so scared, Doctor? I don't have teeth down there, I won't hurt you."

"Oh, and how did you feel before your first time?" he almost spat at her.

She smiled. "Doctor, this can hardly be your first time because I was actually there when we already did it. And I am positive that you had women before me."

"Well, I wasn't exactly in control of myself that night," he argued, looking down at the glass in his hands, "And it's not my first time but it feels like it. Every regeneration is a restart, a whole new body with all sorts of new, weird, confusing feelings."

Clara had never actually seen it that way before but now that he said it it actually made sense. Apart from the crazy night they had spent together he hadn't had sex, not in this body.

"I love you, Clara," he blurted out, now finally looking at her, "And it's terrifying cause-"

"Cause what?" she asked, genuinely not knowing where this was going.

"Cause I might disappoint you. Or you might not like this body. Or-"

"Stop," Clara said, smiling kindly and she set down her glass to scoot a little closer to him until their knees touched. Gently she placed her hands on his thighs and almost thought he was going to pull back, he certainly looked like he wanted to, but still he remained where he was. "I love you, too. And I like this body. I liked the former one, too, but this. . . this is very, very nice. I love how tall you are, always so much taller than I am. I love your chest."

She laid her hand between his hearts, feeling them beating fast beneath her palm. "I like the tiny silvers hairs on it. And your hair." Her hand wandered up, carefully running through his silver curls that were so soft that Clara didn't really want to stop touching them at all. "Beautiful, messy, silver curls. Your lips."

Before Clara had the chance to bring her hand even close the Doctor had caught it and gently brought it to his mouth, kissing her fingertips.

"Don't worry about any of that," she said, "I love you, so whatever face you wear I will love that, too."

Finally the Doctor set his glass aside and before Clara could brace herself the Doctor had pulled her up to sit on his lap. Their lips touched moments later, careful, testing, before Clara opened her mouth and felt his tongue playfully on her own. He tasted like expensive wine and fresh grapes. The Doctor's hands were on her cheeks, brushing that one annoying strand of hair out of their faces that kept trying to come between them and Clara wrapped her arms around him, simply enjoying how close they were. In her heart she knew that this time he wouldn't chicken out.

When they came up for air Clara smiled at him. "Let's make a baby," she whispered.

The Doctor cleared his throat, but he, too, had a smile stuck on his lips. "Under normal circumstances this would not be an appropriate phrase to seduce a man."

Clara shrugged. "Under normal circumstances the daughter you're trying to conceive isn't sleeping a few doors down in her room."

"Good point," he said before he surprised her by flipping them both over. Clara gave a small squeal when she landed on her back, the Doctor on top of her a moment later. He kissed her again and when the Doctor pressed his body against hers Clara felt a familiar tingle course through her body, causing her hips to lift up on their own accord to increase the friction. He was so close and yet they were still separated by so many layers of clothing.

While their lips still touched Clara got hold of the zip of his hoodie and pulled it open, casting it off over his shoulders. Once she had started the Doctor was suddenly very eager to help her get rid of their clothes until they found themselves lying on the fur dressed in only their underwear, their lips still inseparable. Clara could feel him through his silly question mark underpants that she chose not to comment on at the moment so as not to ruin the mood and she reached down and ran her hand over his hardening member. He uttered a soft noise that Clara thought definitely meant approval and she squeezed him a little harder before she herself had enough of the teasing and reached right inside his underwear. He was hard and heavy in her hand as she stroked him and the thought of him inside of her again made her sex twitch with desire. Clara remembered the last time only too well. Even though it had all been a little hasty and rough because of the alien drugs she had still enjoyed it immensely. The Doctor broke away from her lips to utter a low, throaty moan and as her finger brushed over the tip she could feel him leaking with excitement. If only he was already inside of her. Clara could hardly wait.

The suddenly he slipped from her hand and before she knew what was happening the Doctor had slid down and was pulling her knickers with him.

"Doctor, what-" her question was drowned out in a moan when she felt his tongue pressed flat against her and involuntarily her hand reached for his head, burying in his hair, "Oh, yes, please."

There was no need for begging. The Doctor willingly brought his tongue between her folds, lapping at her as skilfully as she had expected from a man who was over 2000 years old. There was no need to guide him at all as he sucked lightly, circled her clit, dipped his tongue in and did all the wonderful things that Clara seemed to lose track of the longer it went on. Her breath was becoming quicker, the feeling of his hot, wet tongue so overwhelming that she didn't even try to fight the moans coming from her mouth. It was as if he knew instinctively just how to touch her. And suddenly, just when she thought she was closing in on her climax, the Doctor withdrew himself from her.

Clara was about to protest when she saw that he was attempting to get rid of his of his own underwear and at the sight of his erection Clara didn't feel the need to protest anymore.

He entered her slowly and pressed another kiss to her lips, yet she could still hear the groan at the back of his throat that came through as she tightened her muscles around him. Clara needed a moment to get used to the feeling of him. He was so big and yet he felt so good when he started to move. He was careful at first, testing but then Clara looked at him and nodded, indicating to him to go on.

She hooked her arms and leg around him, guiding him. His breath, too, was turning into panting as his thrust came just as little faster but still nothing compared to last time. This time he was almost deliberately taking it painfully slow. Clara pulled him down for another kiss despite their lack of air. She just wanted him, all of him.

At the back of her head she knew this wasn't just for their enjoyment, she knew it was just as much about Elsie as it was about them but when he drove inside of her Clara found that she didn't care about the reasons. She would gladly do it with him over and over again until they finally succeeded in making a child.

Clara anchored her leg around his arse, guiding his thrusts and they both moaned in unison when he suddenly hit particularly deep. She opened her eyes to look at him and had to hold back a giggle, his face was a beautiful, flushed mess of arousal and concentration and she arched her hips up to meet him in his moves as she closed her eyes again.

The Doctor was slowly beginning to lose his rhythm, his thrust coming uncoordinated and quick, each time bringing her a little closer to her climax, working her up so deliciously that she thought she was going to burst soon if she didn't find any relief. Finally she felt her orgasm rise inside of her and Clara clawed onto his back, gasping, when he pushed her over the edge. With a long and satisfied groan he spilled himself inside of her only moments later before he collapsed on top of her, panting and utterly spent.

After they had been lying there for a long while, catching their breath, Clara couldn't help but giggle. "See, not so bad, was it?"

The Doctor grunted in reply. "You can't help the teasing, can you?"

"Nope," she chuckled while the Doctor settled down next to her, taking a deep breath once he was lying on his back.

"I wonder if it worked. If we-"

"Shhh," Clara shushed him by rolling half on top of him and placing her finger over his lips, "Let's not talk about that now. Let's just stay here all night and enjoy it."

"Yeah," he breathed, "Good idea."

The Doctor turned around and looked at her for a moment before he bent forward and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.


	19. Chapter 19

_Thank you so, so much for the reviews!_

 **Chapter 19**

Once Clara had collapsed into the pillows next to him the Doctor allowed himself to take a long, deep breath. They remained silent for a long while, waiting for their breathing to return to normal after the exercise.

"You're getting comfortable with that," Clara giggled next to him before she reached for the glass of water that had appeared over night along with a large breakfast buffet full of fresh fruits, croissants, spreads, coffee and everything they could have asked for. She emptied it in one go.

"I wouldn't go as far as to say _comfortable_ ," the Doctor lied. He still had his issues with touching, especially hugging, because Clara's emotions were hard to keep track of as it was and he hated it when he couldn't even see her face to try and judge was what going on in her mind. But it was Clara. And he liked being close to her more than he would have thought and he enjoyed the intimacy that he hadn't even thought he could ever experience in this regeneration.

Clara rolled onto her side and wrapped her arm around his chest that she had claimed she loved so much. Had his doubts and worries really been unfounded all this time?

"Well," she said, a soft smile on her lips, "We now have all the time in the universe to _get comfortable_."

His hearts leapt with joy at the sudden thought of it because Clara was right. She was immortal. So was he, in a way. Even Elsie would be able to regenerate. Maybe one day she would decide to go off on her own, after all they had a spare TARDIS parked away, but as long as they chose to be together they would, even until the end of time. They were a family, a real family, something the Doctor hadn't had in a very long time. And only now he was beginning to realize how much he had truly missed it. He had lost so many people. Could it really be that he had finally found the ones that would stay?

"You're awfully quiet," Clara remarked after a moment, "What are you thinking about?"

The Doctor turned to look at her and smiled. "I was thinking we should go somewhere amazing, the three of us. The geysers and hot springs of Trontos or have you ever seen the Intergalactic Athletics Championships? They're absolutely mad. Beings of all races can participate and when it comes to High Flight the ones who can't actually fly build all sorts of interesting gadgets so they can beat the others – and that's _allowed_."

Clara started to laugh and the Doctor watched her in confusion. He wasn't aware that he had said something actually funny.

"You're right," she agreed, still chuckling, "We should go. Elsie is going to love it. But first we need to take care of _that_."

Clara's hand suddenly wandered down his stomach until it came to rest on his member. It gave an excited twitch at the contact of skin and the Doctor was just about to open his mouth and say something when suddenly they heard the door to the room burst open. Quickly and by instinct the Doctor and Clara reached for the nearest blanket to cover themselves.

"You did it!" they heard Elsie's excited voice only a few seconds before she stuck her head into the blanket fort, "I'm no longer fading!"

" _Elsie!_ " Clara scolded her angrily, "A little privacy!"

"Sorry," the girl mumbled and was gone from their view but the Doctor could still see her waiting outside their little tent. Clara gestured for him to get dressed, which they did before she told their daughter to come inside.

She was grinning broadly when she settled down next to her parents and reached for a strawberry from the breakfast plate. "I'm not fading anymore," she explained happily and lifted her trouser legs, "See? I'm solid and as far as I know I haven't flickered either."

"Solid?" the Doctor wanted to know.

"Sorry, I never told you about that," Clara said apologetically and went on to tell him about how Elsie had started to disappear the day before.

"Why have you kept this from me?" he asked her in disbelief, "You should have told me. I should have known."

"You were already freaking out, I didn't want to put any more pressure on you. Besides, it all worked out, didn't it?" She paused, exchanging looks between him and Elsie, "So, since you're no longer fading away, does that mean I'm pregnant now?"

The Doctor knew that that was exactly what it meant and suddenly a different kind of panic was beginning to rise inside of him. He was going to be a father once more. They were going to have baby. Together. He and Clara. The TARDIS wasn't even remotely child proof. He needed to take all sorts of precautions. And Clara, well, she was immortal now so there wasn't much that could happen to her that she wouldn't be able to handle – but Elsie inside of her wasn't. There definitely shouldn't be adventuring as long as she was pregnant. And-

"Doctor?"

He turned around to stare at Clara and for a moment didn't know where to start. "I, erm, we should probably have the TARDIS test you to be absolutely sure but yeah, I think so," he replied eventually.

"See," Clara smiled towards Elsie, "All thanks to you and your amazing blanket fort. We should definitely keep it by the way. This is a nice place to hang out in."

Suddenly their daughter frowned at them. "I didn't make this."

Clara laughed. "What do you mean you didn't? It certainly wasn't there a few days ago."

"I know. I found it by accident and I wrote the notes but I didn't build this."

"Then who-"

"The TARDIS," the Doctor replied before Clara had even finished her question, "The TARDIS is telepathic and reconstructs itself to your needs. It's just when you want something more specific that you have to manually add the room. It probably picked up on the fact that we needed a nice, quiet place."

"Sort of like the Room of Requirement in Harry Potter," Elsie threw in.

The Doctor smiled. "Yes, sort of like that. Just much more sophisticated. The TARDIS uses actual science, not magic."

Clara shrugged. "Seems a bit like magic to me. But it would explain why I had this huge library in mine without ever really setting it up. Jane was so jealous of that," she giggled.

"I have a big library, too," the Doctor argued, a slightly hurt tone to his voice.

She smiled sweetly at him. "Mine was bigger."

Clara turned away to reach for one of the snacks laid out for them and stuffed it into her mouth before offering some to the Doctor as well.

"Shouldn't we go to the control room and take a test?" the Doctor asked her.

She shook her head, still smiling. "No, first we'll have a nice family breakfast. Come on," Clara laughed and threw Elsie an additional pillow to sit down on.

They all gathered around the breakfast menu the TARDIS had provided them with and ate and laughed and chatted about all sorts of things. The Doctor leaned back and enjoyed having his women close because if Clara truly was pregnant this would probably be their last family breakfast for the next nine months.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Clara stood in exactly the spot the Doctor had pointed at and waited for the TARDIS scans to be completed while trying to suppress her own nervousness. Was she pregnant? Was she not? She didn't feel so very pregnant although she knew she shouldn't be able to feel it at this point anyway. When Clara glanced over to Elsie she spotted the same uneasiness she felt on her daughter's face as well.

Suddenly the Doctor stepped back from the TARDIS screens and some of the colour seemed to have faded from his face as he swallowed hard.

He took a deep breath before he spoke. "We're going to have a baby," he said quietly.

Elsie immediately jumped up and yelped with joy and Clara couldn't hide the smile that was beginning to spread over her face as she made her way across the room, reached out to touch the Doctor's face and pulled him down for a kiss.

"We made it," she said happily, "We're going to have a child. We're going to have Elsie."

The Doctor only stared at her, still somewhat baffled. "We're going to have a child," he repeated.

Only now Clara realized what exactly it was that was bothering the Doctor as she recognized the emotion on his face as pure fright. Clara couldn't help but laugh. "In case you haven't noticed. We've had that child around for a while already and it's all fine."

"I know," he said a little defensively, "I know but this. . . this makes it very, very real. And very, very scary."

Gently Clara placed her hand on his cheek and granted him a smile. "I know but look," she nodded towards Elsie, "There's proof that's it's all going to turn out perfectly fine."

Finally the Doctor looked and seeing Elsie seemed to calm his nerves somewhat. He glanced back between the TARDIS screen and their daughter and finally his features lit up a little.

"So, this is probably where I leave you and go back to my own time, right?" Elsie asked sheepishly.

"Do you really have to? Already?" Clara found herself asking. She had known this day would come, the Doctor had told her but she hadn't thought the day would come so soon and even though she now knew she was going to carry Elsie inside of her she didn't really want her to leave just yet.

Elsie looked a little lost. "I should. I mean, I seem to have fixed everything. If I remain here I might do more damage than good."

"Ahhh, don't be silly," the Doctor suddenly said as he pulled at a leaver, sending the TARDIS into flight, "One more trip. To say goodbye."

He grinned at them both while the TARDIS landed with her usual groaning sound and Clara raised her eyebrows at him.

"Where are we?" she asked carefully.

The Doctor strode across the console room to open the door, that proud grin still stuck on his face as he pointed outside. "Intergalactic Athletics Championships," he announced.

Elsie immediately started to giggle and darted outside, Clara following only reluctantly while giving the Doctor a stern look. He was rubbish at saying goodbye and who knew what consequences it could have for them to keep Elsie around but she decided not to say anything about that. He probably, hopefully, knew what he was doing.

The Doctor secured them seats in the front row by using his psychic paper and lying to the staff about being ambassadors of a planet she couldn't even pronounce. An alien with antlers walked by and offered them drinks and snacks that apparently came free with their VIP seats and they all accepted thankfully while they waited for the show to begin.

A choir entered the arena, made up of all sorts of different species and they started singing a kind of hymn that Clara didn't know and that sounded like nothing but a wild mess of syllables and changed the rhythm and melody every few seconds but the Doctor soon enlightened her about it.

"It's a sort of mash up of all the hymns and anthems of every single being participating in the championships. It's a tradition," the Doctor explained.

"It's gruesome," Elsie commented, pulling a face.

"I never said it was a good tradition," he cleared his throat and leaned back in his seat when the games were about to start. And as Clara soon realized it was a hilarious spectacle.

The first event was the high jump and as soon as the contestants walked in Clara realized how unfair the entire event was from the beginning. One alien had the longest legs she had ever seen in her entire life and even though he was the size of a giant he seemed light enough to fall over in a breeze. The second was a dwarf in comparison but she soon spotted the rockets tied his feet. The third was a humanoid and apart from the blue skin colour he didn't look much different from normal human beings – except that he couldn't walk properly thanks to the coil springs under his shoes. The last one that walked in was something that looked like a female crossover of a centaur and a pegasus. They all attempted the jump. The long legged creature failed at both attempts, knocking down the pole with his uncoordinated limbs. The dwarf was disqualified for using the rockets to propel himself up and not his own legs, while they said that using his own legs and _then_ adding the rockets would have been fine.

"Why is that even allowed?" Clara whispered, bending over to the Doctor.

"Allowed? That's what these championships are all about."

The blue alien with the coil springs ended up winning this round and they quickly moved on to the next event of long flight. The contestants needed to stay up in the air for at least five minutes and fly around several obstacles and through a hoop. The Doctor explained to her that the kind of obstacles changed every year so they wouldn't know what to prepare for and Clara immediately realized why that might be a problem. She had already spotted another mix of centaur and pegasus and she could see no way in which that thing could possibly fit through the small hoop.

"He's the favourite," the Doctor pointed towards the creature, "He won five years in a row. No one has ever done that before."

"I don't see him getting the medal this time."

The Doctor chuckled next to her. "Wait and see."

And indeed the Doctor had been right. The moment before Clara was sure the creature would fly straight into the hoop and knock it down there was a loud bang and when she looked again the creature had shrunk and was now the size of a budgie. He only transformed back once he had landed safely and everyone in the audience cheered.

After seeing a lot of ludicrous creatures and gadgets at the championships and after Elsie had been allowed a ride on the creature's back they all headed back to the TARDIS and they were still laughing about some of the things they had seen until the door closed behind them. Then however reality had managed to catch up with them and Elsie looked expectantly at her parents.

"I guess it's time, isn't it?" she asked.

This time the Doctor nodded gravely.

"And everything will be back to normal? Mum will be back and everything will be fixed?"

"It should be," the Doctor told her, "Maybe some minor changes will have happened but the rest is back to the way it was before it went wrong."

"Good," Elsie concluded and spread her arms wide, "I'm actually kinda looking forward to seeing my future parents again."

"Why?" he chuckled as he approached her for a hug, "Was it so boring with us?"

Elsie smiled once they had released each other from the embrace. "You know what I mean, Dad."

"Yeah," he smiled back, "I know."

"Oh, come here," Clara said impatiently as she threw her arms around her daughter, holding her as close as she could, "I'm going to miss you so, so much."

"I'll see you in nine months," Elsie chuckled.

"Thank you," Clara whispered into her ear, still refusing to let go. She just wanted to hold on to her daughter for as long as she could, "Thank you for everything you've done for us. You're officially the best daughter in the entire universe."

"And you two are the best parents in the entire universe."

"Alright, alright," the Doctor rolled his eyes impatiently, "Enough talking."

Once Clara had let go of Elsie she shot the Doctor a dirty look but soon realized that it wasn't out of impatience that he wanted her to leave but because he really, really hated goodbyes.

Elsie walked around the console unit and programmed something into the TARDIS and Clara could only guess that it was her travel route back to her own time.

"Take good care of mini-me," Elsie smiled before she pushed a button and was gone from their sight.

Clara took a deep breath. "I miss her already," she whispered when she suddenly felt the Doctor's arm around her shoulder.

"I miss her, too. And we won't see her again for another nine mon-"

"Minor changes?!" Elsie's angry voice suddenly resounded through the TARDIS console room and when Clara looked up Elsie was back in the same spot but looking very, very angry.

" _Minor changes?!_ " Elsie yelled at them again. The Doctor and Clara had no idea what to do or why Elsie was suddenly so mad.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked carefully, "I thought we had fixed everything."

" _I have a baby brother!_ " their daughter complained, "I have a three year old baby brother that hasn't been there before! Why do I have a three year old baby brother that hasn't been there before?"

Clara looked up at the Doctor in her confusion and saw him bite his lip uncomfortably. "I, erm, I guess we changed another . . . small. . . thing," he replied reluctantly.

Elsie groaned in annoyance before she raised her index finger as a warning. "Alright," she said a little more calmly, "Alright, I'll accept the brother but that's it. No more siblings!"

Clara couldn't help but giggle as Elsie programmed the TARDIS again and vanished a few seconds later. "She'll get used to the baby brother, I'm sure," she said and turned towards the Doctor who again looked a little paler than before, "And so will you."

He nodded and stepped towards the console room, pressing a couple of buttons before placing his hand on the leaver.

"Where are we going?" Clara asked as she laid her hand on top of his.

The Doctor turned around to smile at her. "Anywhere in time and space."

"My favourite place," she replied and they both pulled the leaver together.

 **The End**

* * *

Thank you all so, so, soooooo much for reading and commenting on this. I am sooooo happy that you loved this story and I have good news and bad news for you.

Bad news is that _The Parenting Adventure_ is over. First good news is that I've decided that although this specific fanfic is over the story of the Doctor, Clara and Elsie is not. I don't really have a plot for their pregnancy and family stories so I decided to write a couple of oneshots that I'll be posting under the title **"Further Parenting Adventures"** and the best thing about it: you can give me prompts! I have already received a prompt about Clara's hen party before their wedding and I am willing to take on more, so what do you wanna read? The Doctor being overly protective of pregnant Clara or newborn Elsie? Elsie's first word? Elsie's first steps? Give me all the family fluff, give me the romance, give me anything. Just drop a comment or write me an ask on my Tumblr (dreameater1988) and I'll see what I can do.

The second good news is that I am already well into the planning stages for my next fic, which is going to be an AU of the Doctor and Clara meeting on a singles cruise, and yes, it's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be called **All** **Inclusive** and I'm pretty sure I'm going to start writing it in a few days and you'll be notified when I start posting. And once again: Thank you so much for reading and leaving comments! You are the best!


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